Kenworthy Hall, State Highway 14 (Greensboro Road), Marion

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS ALA,53-MARI.V,5-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Approximately two miles west of Marion, Perry County, Alabama, on the north side of Highway 14, also known as the Marion to Greensboro Road. USGS Marion North Quadrangle, Universal Transverse Mercator Coordinates: A: B: C: D: Present Owner Kenworthy Hall currently is occupied as a private home by the Martin Occupant. family. The owners cultivate some of the acreage and keep some livestock and Use: for their own use.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS ALA,53-MARI.V,5-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Late in his life, Edward Kenworthy Carlisle sought to build a house which would reflect his stature as a plantation owner, cotton factor, and commissions merchant in the prosperous Black Belt community of Marion, Alabama. The cotton boom years of the and enabled Carlisle not only to build an Italianate villa which boasted of his financial success, but also was designed by a well-known New York architect, Richard Upjohn. Correspondence which survives from Carlisle to the firm of R. Upjohn & Company shows Carlisle to have been influenced by the picturesque movement popularized by Andrew Jackson Downing.

In addition to the designs set forth by Downing, Carlisle likewise adopted the ideologies of the movement, envisioning his home as a moral haven and example to the community, representing him as a religious, family man. Atypical of most Black Belt plantation houses, which mimicked the more classical architectural styles, Carlisle sought a design which would set him apart from his neighbors. The relatively unusual Italianate Villa design distinguished by its massive red brick facade, arched windows, and four-story tower- combined with its antebellum roots and the numerous ghost stories, have cultivated Kenworthy Hall's prominence in the public imagination for nearly 100 years.

"Desiring to build a house," Carlisle adopted the design by Upjohn that had been rejected by his brother-in-law, Leonidas N. Walthall, who built his Upjohn villa on a hill one mile away. Construction spanned from through completed on the eve of the Civil War. Kenworthy Hall is one of the last asymmetrical Italianate villas remaining in Alabama and one of the few houses that Upjohn designed in the South. Modeled on the Edward King House of ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 4) Newport, Rhode Island, Kenworthy Hall has remained largely undocumented and unrecognized as a Richard Upjohn design.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS ALA,53-MARI.V,5-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION A. Physical History: 1. Date of erection: Ca.

In February of Edward Kenworthy Carlisle acquired 200 acres, encompassing the gentle rise between two small creeks, with a fresh natural spring at the base of the hill.1 Many of his relatives owned land and lived in plantation houses in the area, and since Carlisle had lived in a one-story brick dwelling on land that he purchased, located in the neighboring section of the township.2 After that date he slowly began to acquire lands around the present site of Kenworthy Hall, eventually amassing approximately 440 acres by the time he deeded the property to his wife in Carlisle wrote his first letter to Richard Upjohn on May inquiring about ideas and terms for designing a country house.3 Carlisle saw 1 Land Records of Perry County, 12 February Deed Book N: Probate Office, Marion, Alabama.

Carlisle actually acquired other tracks of land in Perry County and in surrounding counties and states, but the properties of concern here are those directly connected to Kenworthy Hall; "Soil Survey Field Sheet," Perry County Alabama, Atlas Sheet No. 19, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service. One of the creeks is Sand Creek and the other that used to exist is now a slow run- off from Wilbourne Lake, so its earlier form is now altered. 2 Land Records of Perry County, 9 October Deed Book F: Probate Office, Marion, Alabama. Carlisle purchased the "Brick house tract containing 153 acres" in a sheriffs sale.

This is also the first time that Carlisle appears in the deed indexes as purchasing property in Perry County, which coincides with his marriage and the birth of his children and when he established himself as a cotton factor and commissions agent in Mobile. He used the brick house as his residence, as evidenced by his references to the size, style, and building materials in his letters to Upjohn, and because when he sold the property in the deed describes the property as "their former Residence known as the Brick House tract of land"; Land Records of Perry County, 29 November Deed Book P: Probate Office, Marion, Alabama. 3 Edward Kenworthy Carlisle to Richard Upjohn, 4 May Upjohn Papers, [New York Public Library or the Avery Architectural Collection, Columbia University?].

Please note that any further citation of these letters will differentiate those letters written directly to Richard Upjohn and the architectural firm, R. Upjohn & Company, the former to be cited as Upjohn and the latter as R. Upjohn & Co. My transcriptions for these letters were taken from photocopies of photocopies of reverse negative microfilm. E. K. Carlisle was an impatient correspondent, and while his handwriting showed his personal flare and style, it was often illegible, even in original letters that I have seen. Words he deemed ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 5) an image of his future house, however, in mid-March of the same year, when his brother-in-law, Leonidas N.

Walthall, shared the Richard Upjohn design he chose not to build and suggested it as a possible design for Carlisle. Walthall was so well pleased with Upjohn's services and gentlemanly manner that he apparently tried to encourage many of his neighbors to engage R. Upjohn & Co. as their architect. "I have a friend who is preparing to build a house," Walthall wrote in March, "I think the design No. 2 which you sent me would suit him exactly."4 The correspondence shows that the official planning stages for the house took place from May, until into early when letters continued to discuss details about the villa's design even as supplies began to arrive the long route from New York to Carlisle's building site near Marion.

On September Carlisle expressed his concern at not yet finding a builder for his house so late in the year and estimated when each stage might be completed. "But now late in the season and not more than the foundations can be done before the fall and winter rains commence," he wrote.

"So the brick work will be mostly put up next spring and the early part of the summer," he calculated, "but all this depends on the contract when one [is] made." By November 4th he had engaged a builder and wrote to Upjohn that "the foundation now laid off and work to commence," marking the official beginning of Kenworthy Hall's construction.5 The available Carlisle to Upjohn correspondence ends abruptly in December, but letters exchanged between Robert Jemison, building an Italianate villa in Tuscaloosa designed by John Stewart, formerly of the Philadelphia architectural firm of Sloan and Stewart, and Philip Bond, a master brick mason who supervised the brickwork for Kenworthy Hall, shows that Bond expected to complete his work in Marion by early June, The house's design, construction, and convenience characteristics also reflect the era in which it was built, including gas lighting, massive newel posts, and circular sawn exposed timbers in the attic.6 2.

Architect: The architect for Kenworthy Hall was Richard Upjohn of R. Upjohn & Company, of New York City, New York. Upjohn's office was one of the earliest training grounds for young architects, with many young men, including his son, Richard M. Upjohn, contributing to the plans and alterations of commissions as part of their apprenticeships. Until the late however, Richard Upjohn played an integral role in the initial phase of the unimportant, he simply left out of his letters, and he randomly broke words at the end of one line and finished them at the beginning of the next, without hyphens. His "style" of writing no doubt added to some of the confusion which passed between himself and the architectural firm. 4 Leonidas Walthall to Richard Upjohn, 15 March Upjohn Papers. 5 Carlisle to R.

Upjohn & Co., 1 September and 4 November 6 Robert Jemison to Philip Bond, 15 April Hoole Special Collections at University of Alabama, Jemison Collection Letterbook ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 6) designs and even in many of the subsequent changes which clients requested.7 Edward Kenworthy Carlisle addressed four of his earliest letters to the firm directly to Richard Upjohn, opening with the salutation, "Dear Sir." The more encompassing greeting, "Dear Gentlemen," appeared once most of the design had been agreed upon, including the exterior, room configurations, and building materials.8 Exactly who corresponded with Carlisle most from the firm is unclear because only Carlisle's letters are available. Leonidas N.

Walthall, Carlisle's brother-in-law, seemed to have been in close contact with Charles Babcock, Upjohn's son-in- law, who worked with the firm as a partner from until when he left to develop his own practice. "I can-not but express my regret that your Mr. Babcock has concluded to retire from the firm," wrote Walthall.

"In our correspondence, I feel as though an intimacy, certainly an attachment on my part, has grown up between us." Despite this attachment, Walthall, as did many others who worked with the apprentices and partners, wanted Richard Upjohn's final approval of the overall house, especially after modifications.9 "I trust the younger members of the firm will excuse me asking his individual opinion in relation to [the house]," Walthall apologized.10 Carlisle, it seemed, sought only to satisfy his own needs regarding his house and did not make it known if he sought another opinion, professional or otherwise. But when he had conflicts over design changes or with what he perceived as the inefficiency or carelessness of the firm, he laid responsibility solely at Richard Upjohn's feet.

Upjohn never journeyed to the building site to supervise the work and it seems that no one from the office traveled to Alabama either. Rather, the two parties relied upon the dependability of mail services, with letters and drawings making the route one way in as few as four days. Richard Upjohn was born in Shaftesbury, England, where he trained as a cabinetmaker. Sensing greater economic opportunities in the United States, he sailed to New Bedford, Massachusetts, in After four years he moved to Boston to develop an independent practice where he first expressed his trademark ideas of form taking precedence over ornament and the role of simplicity and workmanship in architecture.

Due to the success of his early work, in Upjohn was called to New York City to advise the vestry of Trinity Church about repairs to the 7 Judith S. Hull, "The 'School of Upjohn': Richard Upjohn's Office," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 52:3(September 8 Of the first seven letters that Carlisle wrote to the firm in New York, four of them were addressed to "Dear Sir" and the others to "Dear Gentlemen." Those to "Sir" included 4 May 27 May 19 July and 2 August Those to "Gentlemen" included 15 June 3 July and 1 September Two later letters were also directly addressed to Upjohn 6 April and 28 September both of which contained Carlisle's serious complaints about the firm and what Carlisle thought was Upjohn's lack of concern for quality.

9 Hull, "The School of Upjohn": 10 Walthall to R. Upjohn & Co., 9 September and 7 December ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 7) building. When he declared the existing structure unsound he was hired, after submitting plans, to design and supervise construction of a new church on the site. He moved his office to New York City to oversee what was for several years to become a nearly full-time endeavor. Trinity Church was to establish Upjohn in the world of architecture, particularly ecclesiastical design. As an ardent Episcopalian and follower of Pugin who saw architecture as a high calling, he sought an architectural form for the church that would speak to its high moral objectives, a message he found expressed in the Gothic form.

With the completion of Trinity Church in Upjohn had earned the reputation as the major designer for Protestant Episcopalian church architecture and his popularity brought him inquiries and commissions from the richest to the poorest parishes of many denominations. The demand for designs from small, rural parishes, which could not afford his services, led him to publish Rural Architecture, a book of plans and elevations which led to a near standardization of rural church architecture and made Upjohn one of the most influential architects of his day, even though many of the churches based on his designs go undocumented today. In he formed The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and served as its president until when failing health forced him to give up the position.

Foremost in his agenda as president were that architects be appropriately trained for their profession, that they be compensated and recognized for their work, and that they establish an official means of working with clients and of collegiality amongst themselves." Richard Upjohn's dedication to purity of form and massiveness in construction transferred to his work in domestic architecture. But rather than turn to the Gothic, which was his inspiration in ecclesiastical architecture, Upjohn sought inspiration from the Italian Renaissance, which still enabled him to reflect his restrained sensibilities and the idea that a building's form should represent its purpose. That Kenworthy Hall is a Richard Upjohn design is unmistakable in all of its basic characteristics.

The villa shows all the hallmarks of an Upjohn design, from the asymmetrical exterior and the basically center-hall plan interior, to the geometric simplicity and pared-down use of ornament. The house also adopts a style characteristic of nearly every non- ecclesiastical building that Upjohn designed after and what he introduced in the Edward King House in the round-arch openings set into otherwise unadorned walls.12 The Edward King House in Newport, Rhode Island, became one of Upjohn's most well-known houses, in part because of its inclusion in Andrew J. Downing's The Architecture of Country Houses The similarity between Kenworthy Hall and the Edward King house is unmistakable, but for 11 Hull, "The School of Upjohn": 291 and Phoebe B.

Stanton, "Richard Upjohn," Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects (New York: The Free Press, Thomas U. Walter, "Richard Upjohn, F.A.I.A., Journal of the American Institute of Architects 8:6(December 12 William H. Pierson, "Richard Upjohn and the American Rundbogenstil," Winterthur Portfolio 2 l:4(Winter ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 8) Upjohn and the architects of his day conformity was an essential part of historicist architecture.

"The Anglo-American building world," writes Judith Hull, "respected solid construction as much as innovation." Carlisle, for example, did not necessarily seek a more attractive or unusual house than his brother-in-law, but he certainly wanted it to be constructed more soundly, emphasizing building materials and foundation strength as if his character would be reflected in his dwelling. Richard Upjohn seemed to perceive such steadfast reflections of himself in everything that he designed, whether churches, civic buildings, or houses. Upjohn, eulogized his admirers after his death, "followed his natural predilections for correct and solid architecture rather than for new and imaginative combinations."13 3.

Original and subsequent owners: Reference is to the Land Records of Perry County, Alabama, which fall under the supervision of the Probate Office.14 Kenworthy Hall was built on lands accumulated by Edward Kenworthy Carlisle, totaling 440 acres. Carlisle purchased and sold many other tracts of land in the area in the intervening decades, but this report focuses on the land immediately surrounding Kenworthy Hall. The villa was built at the highest point of this acreage with good access to the Marion to Greensboro Road, also known as Highway 14. The legal description of the land as of when E. K.

Carlisle deeded it to his wife, described the property boundaries as: "lots, tracts, and parcels of land lying and being in said county between two and three miles west of the town of Marion: to wit the East half of the North East quarter of Section Ten: the West half of the North West quarter of Section Eleven: The East half of the South East quarter of Section Ten: the West half of the South East quarter of Section Ten; and about Eight acres in the East half of the South West quarter of Section Ten lying East and adjoining the lands of Capt. Johnston." The property description also included another 110 acres, listed in the deed book according to the owners of the neighboring properties.15 A: "Lands containing 440 acres more or less." Deed, February recorded in Volume N, page C. J.

Philip and Wife 13 Hull, "The School of Upjohn": Walter, "Richard Upjohn": 14 The deeds and mortgages are listed in the same bound volumes in the Probate Office of the Perry County Courthouse. Some of the volumes are listed as Deed/Mortgage, and others simply as Deeds, even though they may also contain Mortgages. The volumes are listed here according to the name and number embossed on their bindings. 15 The Plat Books in the Perry County, Alabama, Tax Assessor's Office illustrate the major changes in the land boundaries. See the tax-assessment maps for Township 19, Range 7 in Plat Books and ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO.

AL-765 (page 9) To Edward Kenworthy Carlisle Deed, June 17, recorded in Volume R, page Edward Kenworthy Carlisle To Lucinda Wilson Carlisle, his wife, in consideration of Deed, November, recorded in Volume page Lucinda Wilson Carlisle To Augusta W. Jones, her daughter, in consideration of Mortgage/Deed, January 8, recorded in Volume page Augusta W. Jones and A. W. Jones, her husband, of Dallas County, Alabama16 To Ira B. Oldham, mortgage to Judson College. Deed, November 8, recorded in Volume page Ira B. Oldham and Mary N. Oldham, his wife, of Muskegee, Oklahoma To Etta Hart, of Springdale, Arkansas, for "One Dollar and other good and valuable considerations. .. plus a certain mortgage for the sum of to Judson College." Deed, May recorded in Volume page Etta Hart and J. H.

Hart, her husband To Walter G. Tyson, of Jackson County, Missouri, assumes the above mortgage. Deed, May 1, recorded in Volume page 64. Walter G. Tyson, of Jackson County, Missouri To J. H. Hart, of Perry County, Alabama, for Deed, May 9, recorded in Volume page 247 Walter G. Tyson, of Jackson County, Missouri To 16 If a place of residence is listed in the deed or mortgage I include it here. 17 It is unclear what happened in this negotiation, but somehow Tyson maintains his ownership of the property. The two men seem to have negotiated a loan from Hart to Tyson. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 10) Mary E. Trotter, of Jackson County, Missouri, for "One Dollar and other good and valuable considerations...

plus a certain mortgage for the sum of to Judson College." Mortgage/Deed, August recorded in Volume page 337 Mary E. Trotter, of Jackson County, Missouri To W. J. Cowhick, of Pueblo County, Colorado. Mortgage/Deed, February 3, recorded in Volume page 286 W. J. Cowhick and Ida M. Cowhick, his wife, of Pueblo County, Colorado To R. A. Moore, of Pueblo County, Colorado, for mortgage. Mortgage/Deed, December 27, recorded in Volume page R. A. Moore, of El Paso County, Colorado To Fred N. Bentall, of El Paso County, Colorado, for mortgage. Deed, May 7, recorded in Volume page Fred N. Bentall, of El Paso County, Colorado To John C. Hoffer, Denver County, Colorado, for mortgage. Mortgage/Deed, recorded in Volume page 337 John C. Hoffer, of Denver County, Colorado To A. P. Wilbourne and M. H.

Wilbourne, "Mortgage sale by deed executed by them as mortgages to themselves." B: "Lands containing 350 acres more or less." Mortgage/Deed, December 9, recorded Volume page A. P. Wilbourne and Corinne S. Wilbourne, his wife, M. H. Wilbourne and Mary P. Wilbourne, his wife, and Wilbourne Brothers To M. S. Tucker. C: "Lands containing 300 acres more or less. is 18 The plat maps and the estimates of acreage diverge about this point in the deeds record. The plat maps show the acreage as unvarying, whereas the deeds report differences of up to fifty acres. The Plat Books in the Perry County, Alabama, Tax Assessor's Office illustrate the unvarying land boundaries ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 11) Deed, June 6, recorded Volume page M. S.

Tucker and Estelle Tucker, his wife To John Levoy Hill. Deed, June 29, recorded Volume page John Levoy Hill, and Anne C. Hill, his wife To W. E. Belcher. Deed, February 7, recorded Volume page W. E. Belcher To Brady Belcher, A. R. Belcher, W. E. Belcher Robena Belcher Roby, and H. H. Maxwell. D: "Lands containing approximately 19 acres." Deed, April 11, recorded Volume page 30. Brady Belcher, A. R. Belcher, W. E. Belcher Robena B. Davis, and Ruby B. Maxwell as general partners, and Birmingham National Bank To Karen Delores Klassen, Deed, February 9, recorded Volume page Karen Delores Klassen To E. J. Blackburn and Elizabeth A. Blackburn, his wife, W. P. Guerard, Jr. and Margaret P. Guerard, his wife. Deed, February 9, recorded in Volume page E. J. Blackburn and Elizabeth A.

Blackburn, his wife, W. P. Guerard, Jr. and Margaret P. Guerard, his wife To H. B. Martin and Virginia Nell P. Martin, his wife. 4. Builder, contractor, suppliers: Carlisle debated whether or not to hire a local builder or to have one recommended by Richard Upjohn brought in to construct Kenworthy Hall. He eventually negotiated for a builder and contractor without Upjohn's assistance, but he never around Kenworthy Hall, in Township 19, Range 7, from through Tracings of six plat maps, dating and are included in the field notes. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 12) names the men in his correspondence that he hired. R. Upjohn & Co.

wrote out many of the contracts for supplies, so whether some of the names listed here are the ones that did the work or simply oversaw the work remains ambiguous.19 In some instances the name of the maker of supplies exists, but not necessarily the supplier. George Brown, stonemason; George Drummond, wood and plaster carving; F. Calloway doors and sash-all of New York; Philip Bond, master brick mason-possibly from New York State.20 Names which appear on surviving elements of the house: F & C. Clarks Best Broad, butt hinges on second floor and secondary doors; Potts A. L. T., metal terne plate roofing; Cornelius and Baker, gas light fixtures; Day, Mull & Minan, hardware. Ca. addition of more electric outlets and lights: Manly White, electrician-Marion, Alabama.

Construction and repair work done during the Martins' residence: Lum Oakes, plaster repair; Early Colburn, replaced spiral and main stair banisters and sections of doors which had had their locks sawn out; Palmer Goree, built front brick steps; Mr. Brown, built family entrance brick steps; Mr. Burford, replaced mortise locks in the doors.21 5.

Original plans and construction: The house is brick with brownstone trim, two-and-a-half stories plus a four-story tower, and features an asymmetrical design with a shallow hip roof, projecting gables, rounded and elliptical-arch windows, and a recessed entrance, (figure 1) The house is basically a center-hall plan with a separate two-room kitchen building, once connected to the main building with a covered walkway.(figure 2) The house was built with an arcuated front porch, a second-floor front balcony, a back verandah which extended the full width of the 19 Carlisle never says in his correspondence who is supervising the construction of his house, although he makes frequent reference to someone on the site.

Leonidas Walthall hired William Hart to supervise the construction of Forest Hall, because he wanted someone familiar with the specifications of an Upjohn building. Many sources have speculated whether or not Hart remained in the area to supervise Kenworthy Hall as well. At one point during the construction of Walthall's house Hart wrote to Upjohn, "Some foulks talk about me building them another house all redy but one at the time will suit me very well." He was frustrated with the southern way of building and the changeable nature of his clients. About the time that Carlisle would have begun construction of his house, Hart was on his way back to New York. Mr.

Hart to Richard Upjohn, 9 May Walthall to R Upjohn & Co., March 18, 20 Robert Jemison in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to Philip Bond in Marion, Alabama, 15 April Jemison Collection Letterbook 21 Heber Martin, conversations with the author, 6 June 30 July Marion, Alabama. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 13) building and connected to the covered walkway, and a small verandah which functioned as the family's private entrance on the west side of the house.(figure The original front porch was removed and replaced after and the back verandah was removed after The house's main facade faces south towards Highway 14, the Marion to Greensboro Road, and the north side faces a kitchen garden.

Carlisle left an invaluable record of his plans and preferences for his Italianate villa in his correspondence with R. Upjohn & Co. The configurations of the rooms have remained unchanged, although their uses have altered depending on the number and nature of the families living there. Unlike his brother-in-law, Leonidas N. Walthall, whose whims caused frustrating alterations in his house plan long after he had declared it final, Carlisle knew exactly what he wanted his house to look like and how he wanted it to function. Once the plan was established after several months of exchanging letters and drawings, Carlisle raised complaints only when Upjohn did not follow through on the plan as written in the contract, which happened with frustrating regularity.

Carlisle was specific about the use and occupancy of each room. "We wish a small basement room," he wrote in his initial letter, "for Fish, Molasses, Lard, etc."23 The basement eventually contained three rooms, and Upjohn convinced him that there should be an interior servant access to the space in addition to an entrance from the outside, below the verandah.24 The first floor, after consultation with the architect, contained a 13' wide entrance hall, a parlor, library, sitting room, dining room, sewing and smoking rooms, as well as a pantry and storage area.

Carlisle determined not to have the verandah reach from the north side of the house around to the library, and instead replaced the threat to interior light with, "another window in the Library" which "we think needed."25 He likewise added a verandah on the west wall of the house, spurred on by what he saw as a design flaw in his brother-in-law's house. "Instead of the closed hall as in Mr.

Walthall's house extending beyond the sewing room," he preferred theirs become, "an open verandah."26 The second floor featured a wide upper landing at the top of the main stair, three bedrooms for immediate family, "another for intimate acquaintances," two bedrooms for guests, a private hallway, a trunk room "in that part of the house designed for the family," and "closets 22 Vera Holcombe, interview with the author, 12 June Marion, Alabama; Vera Holcombe also has photographic evidence of the verandah's dates in her son's baby photograph album where he is captured playing with his puppy, with a corner of the verandah visible behind him. 23 Carlisle to Upjohn, 4 May 24 Carlisle to R. Upjohn & Co., 3 July 25 Carlisle to Upjohn, 27 May 26 Carlisle to R.

Upjohn & Co., 15 June ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 14) connected with all the best rooms."27 Because the family built the house when their only two children were young adults, the plan does not seem to reflect the needs and uses of young children. Throughout the house Carlisle requested the finest materials, the best construction and the simplest designs, all at the most economical cost. He did not, however, seek economy at the expense of adornment. The house design maintained a theme of arches, flowers, and foliage, particularly on the cornices, medallions, and in the stained-glass design on the first floor. Fine materials and simple designs, he felt, were more reflective of his tastes.

The landscape may or may not have been part of the Upjohn plans for the house. While trying to work out the final design for the front portico, Carlisle offered a glimpse of his plan for the landscape, "the house will front on an open lawn," he wrote. At one time the house did have planted terraces, boxwoods, low brick-walled gardens, a sunken garden, entrance pillars, and a circular driveway and may have even included a lake to the east. One of Carlisle's granddaughters recalled the family speaking of a gardener imported from Scotland to tend the 27 Carlisle to Upjohn, 4 May 28 Carlisle to Upjohn, 4 May Asenath Smith, "The R. O. F.

Picnic," The Conversationalist (Marion, Alabama: The Conversationalist Club, Judson College, Lucy Jones Pairo, "Kenworthy Hall," unpublished manuscript, Hill Ferguson Collection, Department of Archives and Manuscripts, Linn-Henley Research Library, Birmingham, Alabama; Robert E. Hill, letter to the author, 15 July 29 The original watercolor is in the possession of Robert The earliest photograph of the house and front portico found as of the writing of this report is available in "After the Exams. Are Over The Conversationalist (Marion, Alabama: The Conversationalist Club, Judson College, ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO.

AL-765 (page 14) connected with all the best rooms."27 Because the family built the house when their only two children were young adults, the plan does not seem to reflect the needs and uses of young children. Throughout the house Carlisle requested the finest materials, the best construction and the simplest designs, all at the most economical cost. He did not, however, seek economy at the expense of adornment. The house design maintained a theme of arches, flowers, and foliage, particularly on the cornices, medallions, and in the stained-glass design on the first floor. Fine materials and simple designs, he felt, were more reflective of his tastes. The landscape may or may not have been part of the Upjohn plans for the house.

While trying to work out the final design for the front portico, Carlisle offered a glimpse of his plan for the landscape, "the house will front on an open lawn," he wrote. At one time the house did have planted terraces, boxwoods, low brick-walled gardens, a sunken garden, entrance pillars, and a circular driveway and may have even included a lake to the east. One of Carlisle's granddaughters recalled the family speaking of a gardener imported from Scotland to tend the grounds, and who returned to Scotland during the Civil War.28 The only early image of the house available is the architect's original watercolor rendering that R. Upjohn & Co.

sent to Carlisle as an illustration of his house at mid-point in the design process.(figure 5) The rendering represents the house after the decision to add a second projecting gable over the parlor section of the house. "We prefer if there was a gable where the low tower is," he wrote 19 July The rendering was made, however, before they had agreed upon a suitable design for the portico as one with a single front entrance rather than with two side entrances.

One of the main differences between the watercolor illustration and the house as it stands today is that the rendering shows the kitchen building with a brownstone watercourse and brownstone surrounding the elliptical-arch windows, both of which Carlisle vetoed as an unnecessary expense once he received his first estimate for brownstone. Likewise, rather than a left-hand window and door entrance on the right, the illustration shows the reverse, a change in design not represented in the correspondence.29 27 Carlisle to Upjohn, 4 May 28 Carlisle to Upjohn, 4 May Asenath Smith, "The R. O. F.

Picnic," The Conversationalist (Marion, Alabama: The Conversationalist Club, Judson College, Lucy Jones Pairo, "Kenworthy Hall," unpublished manuscript, Hill Ferguson Collection, Department of Archives and Manuscripts, Linn-Henley Research Library, Birmingham, Alabama; Robert E. Hill, letter to the author, 15 July 29 The original watercolor is in the possession of Robert The earliest photograph of the house and front portico found as of the writing of this report is available in "After the Exams. Are Over The Conversationalist (Marion, Alabama: The Conversationalist Club, Judson College, ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 15) 6. Alterations and additions: The house has never received a major or permanent structural addition.

There have been a number of alterations, some through modernizing the utilities and general maintenance of the building and some in rectifying vandalism and neglect. Alterations also reflect the continuous private ownership of the building, with changes representing the needs of current private residents. Few records exist which reveal the Carlisle family's treatment of Kenworthy Hall after its initial construction. As long as the family and their descendants owned the house, however, little seemed to change except for their use of it. Carlisle built the villa as his primary residence and as a showcase to the Marion community; even if he conducted business in Selma and Mobile, he listed Marion as his permanent home.

After his death in the villa was used as a summer home for his wife, Lucinda, their son and daughter, Edward Kenworthy Carlisle, and Augusta, and for the growing number of grandchildren. Lucinda kept full ownership of Kenworthy Hall until and seems to have remained there as long as she could.30 She may have bought a house in Selma, between Mitchell (now Pettus) and Lapsley Streets on the north side of 2nd Street (now Furniss Street). A local map from shows a Carlisle as owning a home there, although this may have been her daughter-in-law, who was widowed young.

The postwar southern economy, the Kenworthy Hall's eventual role as a secondary home, and Lucinda's continued ownership of the house that had been her husband's dream, likely aided the more conservative treatment of its space, with no attempts to add updated conveniences or to alter the structure. Augusta and her husband, Dr. Alexander W. Jones, made their permanent home in Selma, where he became a notable businessman, continuing in the Commission merchants and cotton factoring business as well as developing businesses in banking and the railroad. In addition to summer visits, Augusta Jones returned to Kenworthy Hall in all seasons, family sources reveal, to give birth to her children in the balcony room below the tower.31 31. 30 Deed Book p.

Perry County Probate Office; Julien Smith, Map of the "Jones Addition, North-west Selma," "Perspective of Selma, Alabama, County Seat of Dallas County, (Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Henry Wellge and Co., Both maps are in the Probate and Tax Assessors Office, Dallas County Courthouse, Selma, Alabama. 31 Carlisle Jones, conversation with the author, 14 August Walter M. Jackson, The Storv of Selma (Birmingham, Alabama: Birmingham Printing Company, Dr. Alexander W. Jones went by the title of Doctor because he trained as a doctor before the war at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, completing his degree in He served as a surgeon under General Nathan Bedford Forrest's command and is reputed to have seen so much blood that he had no desire to practice after the war.

Jackson lists Dr. Jones' additional accomplishments as forming a commission business called Carlisle and Jones, with his father-in-law, helping to purchase and becoming president of the Selma, Marion and Memphis Railroad, part owner and president of the New Orleans and Selma Railroad, as well as director of the City National Bank. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 16) By the time Lucinda died at the age of ninety-three in the house was largely reputed to be abandoned, with its grounds and buildings falling into disrepair.

The caretakers at the time, reports one of the great-grandchildren of the Carlisles', burned some of the old trees out of the front lawn as firewood and charged entrance fees for local people and college students to enter the building. Even as early as a group of Judson College girls pried their way into a second floor window to explore the house, and are believed to have taken household objects as souvenirs, including silver-plated doorknobs, servants' bells from the back verandah, and the family papers in the library and attic. Even the son of the head of the Alabama Department of Archives and History took documents out of Kenworthy Hall's attic in The earliest photo of the house which has surfaced at the writing of this report documents a picnic outing by Judson College students.

By chance the young women posed for a group photo on the steps of the house's original portico. The portico, one of the student's reported in her story about the trip, "has partly fallen away."(figure 6) A ca. postcard revealed a different portico, a photograph another, and a late photograph yet another.33 Some of the most notable additions to the building occurred in the and involve the installation of basic utilities. There is some conflict of memory and documentation over what was installed and when in this period. A real estate brochure produced by The Jemison Company announced that the owners (The Tuckers) put in basic hot and cold water in the pantry, converting it into a kitchen, and that they had installed a bathroom in a second-floor dressing room.

Frustration at not being able to get electricity installed convinced the Tuckers to sell the Elma Bell, "Carlisle Hall, Minus its ghost, minus its pillars, retains romantic charm," The Birmingham News. 18 May Section D. In this article, Permelia Jones, granddaughter of E. K. and Lucinda Carlisle, is quoted as saying: "My father and mother and our family lived in Selma, but my mother always went home to Carlisle Hall to have her babies. I was born in the balcony room. We spent all our summers at Carlisle Hall. My father would load us all up in the carriage and we would drive through the country from Selma to Carlisle Hall." In a telephone interview on 15 July with Josephine Dunn, great-granddaughter of the Carlisles, she confirmed that her father, Calvin Jones, had been born in the house.

32 Josephine Dunn; telephone interview with the author, 15 July Smith, "The R. O. F. Picnic"; card file at Archives and History indexing the E. K. Carlisle Papers, reads, "All found in attic of the old Carlisle home (abandoned), Perry Co. Ala., by Thos. M. Owen May 21, This information may be lost as the Archive changes over to a computer system. A printed index to the collection did not include the snippet of donor information. 33 "After the Exams. Are Over ~ ," The Conversationalist: 29 and 31; "Carlisle House," ca. Box Photograph Collection (Postcards), Perry County, Alabama-Marion, Alabama, Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama; other photographs of the front portico in the private collections of Robert E. Hill and Vera Holcombe.

ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 17) property, eventually selling it to Commander Levoy Hill in 1934.34(figure 7) According to the recollections of the Hill children, who lived in the house when they were children and young adults, there was indeed no electricity in the house, and nor do they recall there being any plumbing or a kitchen in the main building.(figure 8) Some people, Daniel Rex said she heard, had even used the fireplaces for cooking. They also recall that many of the rooms were painted bold shades of blue and green, the types of colors readily available in the and Depression years.

The Hills purchased the property in but spent a year cleaning, painting most of the rooms a neutral color, replacing damaged and missing drain spouts, and installing more plumbing. In general, says the eldest of the three children, the family worked more on the interior of the house than the exterior, except for necessary maintenance and minor landscaping. Many of the original gas fixtures and silver-plated doorknobs were already gone from the house, except for one silver doorknob in the library, and at least two brass fixtures on the first to second-floor section of the spiral stair, which the Hill's removed.

It took a couple of years before the family was able to get electricity installed, even though the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was in operation in the area at that time. The family used Coleman lanterns and heated with coal and wood in the fireplaces. Putting in the light switches and electric lines damaged much of the plaster, particularly noticeable because it was not patched very skillfully.

In some instances it is difficult to discern which damage came from the initial electrification or from the later addition of more lights and outlets by a subsequent owner.35 The plumbing additions in this period included adding a kitchen where the pantry used to be and two bathrooms, a half bath in the closet at the base of the spiral stairs and a full bath on the second floor, in the dressing room off of the private hallway. The Hills also opened a passageway between the storage room and the old pantry, creating a larger workspace that did not require walking through the dining room to get to the kitchen. Installation of plumbing fixtures included running pipes through the attic to vent sewer gases and raising the floor level in the second-floor bathroom to accommodate the pipes.

The fixtures in the second-floor bathroom are still the ones installed at that time. Earlier residents may have used the pantry as a kitchen space; an opening for a stovepipe still exists and was likely the cause of much subsequent ceiling and wall plaster damage as it disrupted the ceiling above. There were at least three tenant cabins on the grounds which may or may not have been slave quarters, a barn, an outhouse, a corn crib, 34 The Jemison Companies, Real Estate Brochure for Carlisle Hall, ca. copy from Dr.

David Nelson, of Tuscaloosa; Nell Martin, conversation with the author, 11 June 35 Daniel Rex, telephone interview with the author, 17 July Beverly Furniss, telephone interview with the author, 20 June and letter to the author, 17 July Robert E, Hill, letter to the author, 15 July ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 18) a cotton building, a chicken coop, a wash-house, a well house, a well near the tenant quarters, and a carriage house.36 The most serious alterations to the building were the result of some irresponsible residents, vandals, and thieves. The house stood vacant much of the time between and Most of the twelve marble mantles were either damaged or stolen, and all of the windows, including the skylights, were smashed out.

The gaping openings allowed in all seasonal elements, causing damage to the plaster, plaster cornices, and wood floors, particularly on the west side of the building. Vandals also tore out the spiral-stair banisters, broke the stained glass in the main entrance hall, cut locks and knobs from many of the doors, chopped holes in the floors, cut into some of the wood paneling, and burned the cupboards, shelves, and doors of the upstairs linen storage, the entire insides of the library bookcases, and some of the floors. Some of the verandah may have gone up the chimney at this time as well.37 Subsequent owners struggled to undo the damage wrought in those years.

Kay Klasson put in all new windows, replaced and mended many of the mantels, and stacked up the loose remaining shutters and remnants of the rear verandah and covered walkway in the carriage shed. Klasson tried to reinstate some dignity into the house by furnishing it with antiques she gathered across the south, filling rooms she had not necessarily repaired beyond the windows and mantels. According to the Martins, when they moved into the house, Kay and her parents had cleaned and painted only three of the rooms and the grounds had been allowed to grow wild. The Klassons had attempted to repair some of the plaster damage, but had been unable to find anyone who could restore it to the quality of the original.

They also installed more electrical outlets and unsuccessfully tried to place electric lights where gaseliers once hung.38 36 The Jemison Companies, Real Estate Brochure for Carlisle Hall; Hill, letter to the author, 15 July A HABS photographer documented the interior of the carriage house in only they called it a smoke house. The only problem with calling it a smokehouse is that it shows no traces of smoke residue. The building used to have floor joists and its four-square hipped roof, the floor making it unlikely that it was originally conceived of as a carriage house. The form is reminiscent of the smokehouses illustrated in John Michael Vlach, Back of the Big House: The Architecture of Plantation Slavery (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 71.

The photographs in Vlach's book, however, were also drawn from the HABS collection of the same period as the Kenworthy Hall photographs. (See Outbuildings, Section 37 Vera Holcombe recalls visiting the house when it was abandoned and alerting the Belcher Lumber Company about the vandalism taking place. The tenants that they instated seemed to cause as much or more damage, and were the ones responsible for burning much of the architectural furniture, which had not been so damaged before their arrival. 38 Nell and Heber Martin, interview with the author, 6 June and 9 June ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 19) When the Martins purchased Kenworthy Hall in they began their transformation of the house simply by cleaning.

They attacked the decades of mold and mildew build-up, and gradually gave all the rooms and walls a coat of white paint, except in those places where grain- painted trim survived. They replaced more of the damaged plaster, including many of the places that Klassons had had repaired, which failed primarily because of inadequate preparation of the surfaces. Mr. Martin also steadily had the damaged doors rebuilt, piecing in new wood to match the old and replacing the mortise locks. All of the staircases required at least some repair, but the spiral stair needed all but six new banisters lath-turned. Mr.

Martin likewise had the missing sections of the library bookcases rebuilt, and reconstructed the shelves, doors, and drawers of the linen-storage space with minimal original materials to turn to as examples, completing some of the work himself and hiring the rest done.39 More transformative alterations to the house were the addition of another bathroom in the old sewing room on the first floor, a platform porch at the back of the house replacing part of the verandah, and new brick steps at each of the entrances, including into the kitchen building. Several of the rooms now have propane heaters feeding into the old fireplace chimneys, and the first and second-floor bathrooms, spiral stair hall passages, and several other rooms have wall-to- wall carpet.

The Martins concern themselves with the grounds as well as their living quarters. Since purchasing the property, the Martins have removed a tenant house which was once west of the house, and used the materials from it to build the various new steps with the brick and a small barn, pig pen, and chicken house with the lumber from the structure. During a storm several years ago, one of the older trees fell and damaged the cistern, knocking many of the bricks into the brick and cement-lined hole. B. Historical Context The land and business of cotton In the widowed Susannah Curry Carlisle moved from Lincoln County, Georgia, to Perry County, Alabama, following the immigrant tracks of other family members who had already made the journey into the old Southwest Territory.

As a single woman endowed with some family wealth, particularly slaves she brought with her from Georgia, Susannah bought land and established a new home for herself and her family just outside of Marion.40 Dr. Edward 39 Please see the list of contractors and supplies for some of the people who helped the Martins make repairs to the house. Many of the people who did the work are gone now, and he is grateful that he watched them and learned as they worked so that he could attempt some of the repairs himself later with more of a sense of their techniques and craftsmanship. 40 Edward K. Carlisle, Perry County Estate Papers, ca 1822-ca "John B. Burford to Z. M. Chandler," microfilm, Probate Office, Marion, Alabama; Jas. Y.

Wallace to Susannah Carlisle, 12 August Deed Book A: Probate Office, Marion, Alabama; The Walthall Family ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 20) Carlisle's death in left her with the care of seven young children, four sons and three daughters. The young sons, not yet of age, selected Jabez Curry as their guardian. Edward Kenworthy Carlisle was barely eleven years old and already sensible to the importance of good connections for his future prosperity. Jabez Curry, only twenty-five years old himself, would prove to be an illustrious mentor, becoming one of the more powerful men in Perry County as a landowner and slave holder. When E. K. Carlisle married Lucinda Wilson Walthall in he became more ingrained in the community's founding families.

John Walthall, Lucy's father, had arrived in Perry County in but John's brother, Richard Booker Walthall had settled even earlier, in making him one of the region's pioneers.41 With Jabez Curry, John Walthall, and Richard Walthall as part of his economic network, Carlisle had significant connections to aid him in his own career endeavors, which bridged the planter and mercantile worlds when he became a level-headed commissions merchant in Mobile around later adding the qualifications of cotton factor to his credentials.42 Carlisle's upbringing amidst ambitious planters and the varied forms of livestock and produce which made up plantation life in early Alabama, prepared him for his eventual role as a cotton factor.

But it was his strict business ethics, no-nonsense attitude, and utter dependability which made him a success in his chosen career. Even before the Territory of Alabama achieved statehood in having been carved from the western half of the Mississippi Territory in settlers flooded into the region from the neighboring states, laying claim to lands. The hopefuls arrived from the Carolinas, Georgia, and Tennessee, and particularly bought up lands with access to Mobile, already long an important port city. Perry County was created by an act passed 13 December although the county did not see an influx of settlers for many years.

In the sparsely settled community of Muckle Ridge became the county seat, beating out other contenders that boasted available whiskey and good fishing as their advantages. Muckle Ridge's more central location and its relatively elevated situation promised freedom from floods which plagued many of Alabama's lowland communities. Once selected as the county seat, leaders promptly renamed the town Marion, Tree, family published typescript, from the collection of Robert Walthall, Newbern, Alabama. I do not have a date for exactly when Jabez Curry came to Alabama, except to know that he was there early on; Curry Graveyard inscriptions, from a photocopy of a typescript in the Martin Collection. 41 Thomas MacAdory Owen, History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography (Chicago: The S. J.

Clarke Publishing Company, 42 Mobile Directory: Embracing Names of Heads of Families. Occupations. Addresses and Persons in Business (Mobile Alabama, 43. Edward K. Carlisle is listed as a Commissions Merchant, with his business located at 30 Commerce Street. He does not appear in the Mobile Directory, but does appear in the edition for although his business moved to 32 Commerce Street. None of these directories lists Carlisle's place of residence, even after he married in By however, his address is listed as The Battle House, an exclusive hotel in Mobile which opened in ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 21) honoring Francis Marion, one of the southern heroes of the American Revolution, who fought in his home state of South Carolina.

The change in name reflected their ambitions for the town as something more than one founding man's outpost, but as a place to be taken seriously.43 Despite the opening of a hotel, a few stores, a school, and even a church, Marion, and Perry County, grew slowly. It was not until the that more people gravitated to Perry County and settled in and near Marion. The frontier town developed on the edge of the flat Black Belt, land named for the heavy, dark, damp soil which extended in a swath across the central section of Alabama. The Black Belt soon proved a wise place to relocate.

Originally overlooked in the rush for real estate due to what were considered its insalubrious qualities and its inconvenience to markets, the Black Belt soon became some of the most desirable agricultural land in the state. A new type of cotton, brought up from Mexico, flourished in the fertile soil, producing bigger, disease resistant bolls of cotton which brought premium prices from domestic as well as foreign buyers. This new type of cotton, paired with Daniel Pratt's manufacture of cotton gins, allowed for previously unimagined productivity. The pack boats which plied Alabama's navigable rivers, however, were hardly sufficient to transport significant amounts of cotton.

Then in the steamboats became a viable means of transporting goods, and by freight and packet lines were operating out of Mobile along all of the major rivers. The impact of this technology is especially evident when one considers the number of Black Belt planters who grew incredibly wealthy in the succeeding decades. Even with these advancements, however, plantation owners were dependent upon the whims of the weather and the seasons.

The rivers had low stages that prevented the shipment of cotton and other goods for months at a time, a problem that the relatively slow expansion of the railroads was slow to remedy, with only 150 miles of railroad in the state by On the steamboats, accidents, explosions, sinkings, collisions, and fires were also not infrequent, offering good reason why Carlisle insisted that everything he shipped, whether cotton or personal merchandise, be insured for damage or loss. The railroad was especially slow to influence Perry County's development, with the Cahaba and Marion Railroad not arriving until the year before Edward Kenworthy Carlisle began to build Kenworthy Hall.44 43 Samuel A. Townes, The History of Marion. Alabama. Reprint (Birmingham, Alabama: A. H.

Cather Publishing Company, Federal Writers' Project, Alabama: A Guide to the Deep South. American Guides Series (New York: Richard R. Smith, Jeff Mansell, Perrv County Alabama: An Inventory of Significant Historic Structures (Cahaba Trace Commission, 2- 8. 44 Federal Writers' Project, Alabama: 69 and 91; Harvey H. Jackson III, Rivers of History: Life on the Coosa. Tallapoosa. Cahaba. and Alabama (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, Mansell, Perry County. Alabama: 5; Willis Brewer, Alabama: Her History. Resources. War Record and Public Men, from to Reprint, (Spartanburg, South Carolina: The Reprint Company Publishers, ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO.

AL-765 (page 22) Marion and its surrounding lands became the residence and local trade center of choice for many wealthy Black Belt and Perry County planters, not only as the Perry County seat, but as a trade, education, and cultural center. By the townspeople began to build and maintain roads, to construct a court house that was more than a shack, and to organize churches. If the education levels of Carlisle's relatives are any standard, the surrounding land and community attracted many well-schooled immigrants who endeavored to fashion a semblance of culture out of the mud.

Stage coach lines and river travel connected the community to the rest of the world at the same time as individuals subscribed to and shared local, state, and out-of-state publications, particularly those of interest to farmers. Energetic church members and educators founded three important schools in Marion. Methodists founded the Marion Female Seminary, which remained open from until The Judson Female Institute, founded in was taken over by the Baptists in and is still in operation as Judson College. Howard College for men opened in which, when it moved to Birmingham in was immediately replaced by the Marion Military Institute, also still in operation. The colleges offered unparalleled opportunities for socializing and otherwise scant cultural entertainment.

The community played such an important role in antebellum Alabama that when the State decided to move the seat of government from Cahaba, Marion was given serious consideration before the title went to Montgomery in Further testament to Marion's days as a wealthy Black Belt community are the streets lined with classically designed houses dating from the days of prosperity. Many planters built houses in town convenient to the local attractions in addition to residences on their plantation properties.46 Black Belt prosperity was a relatively short-lived phenomenon. Its wealth was in direct relationship to the demands for cotton throughout the world, the fertile soil, and the captive source of labor which produced the cotton.

Real estate constantly changed hands as landowners sought to increase their holdings, often buying up parcels from less successful smaller farmers who found it impossible to survive the economic downturns, such as those which devastated many in the and conflicts in Europe which stifled the market in the mid-1840s. Men like Elisha F. King added property every year, from his arrival in Perry County in when he acquired acres, until he died in having amassed acres.47 While Carlisle and his relatives' holdings were not this extensive, they too invested in land and slaves, with their names appearing frequently in the grantor/grantee indexes for Perry County. Between and for instance, Carlisle's name appeared in twenty-one transactions as the grantor. Many of 45 Weymouth T.

Jordan, "A Black Belt Town," in Ante-Bellum Alabama: Town and Country. Reprint (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 46 After the war another important school was founded in Marion. The Lincoln School was founded in by a group of recently freed black men intent on learning. The school went through several changes of ownership, leadership, and status until it was closed by the State of Alabama in Idella J. Childs, "Lincoln Normal School," self-published information pamphlet, ca. 47 Jordan, "A Black Belt Planter Family," in Ante-Bellum Alabama: 41. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 23) Carlisle's relatives likely owned lands in other counties and states as well.

In he paid in taxes on 320 acres in Neshoba County, Mississippi, although it is not clear what he did with that land nor how long he kept it.48 It is no coincidence that as plantation sizes grew in Perry County, so did the number of slaves. By Perry County's white population reached and the black population Over the next thirty years the white population grew relatively little to whereas the number of blacks more than quadrupled to In Jabez Curry owned 165 slaves, John Walthall 64, and Leonidas Walthall with many other relatives owning similar numbers.49 Carlisle descendants have liked to claim that Edward Kenworthy Carlisle did not advocate slavery and only kept those that he and his wife inherited. Lucy Jones Pairo, Carlisle's granddaughter, wrote that "while Mr.

Carlisle did not approve of slavery and never bought or sold any, his wife inherited a number of slaves, many of whose progenitors had been in the family since the early settlement of Virginia."50 When Susannah Carlisle made out her will in each child was to inherit their portion of the ten slaves then owned by her, with her youngest son Elihu, not yet twenty, due to inherit all the "land and real estate, stock of horses, mules, cattle, hogs, household and kitchen furniture, and the Negro man Jim Fourth." Edward was to receive "a Negro woman by the name of Daphney and the future increase of said Negro woman." In Carlisle owned fifteen slaves, a small number when compared to the rest of his family, making it seem that perhaps he was not actively in the market for slaves.51 If Carlisle was uneasy about slavery it did not prevent him from selling the products of slave labor, nor from purchasing and selling slaves for his clients through his factoring business.

In Foster Mark Kirksey, then of Eutaw, commissioned Carlisle to negotiate the sale of a slave. The surviving papers do not record whether or not he sold the man, but leave evidence of the complicated process of waiting for a good price on human chattel, which had to be looked after, versus selling plantation produce which could be simply warehoused to await the best price. Had Carlisle relied more on the products of his plantation he too may have depended upon slaves to provide the necessary labor. Several sources report that after the war some of the Carlisle slaves remained as paid servants to the Carlisle family. "Although the place has passed out of the 48 Tax receipt from Neshoba County, Mississippi, E. K.

Carlisle Papers, Unprocessed Manuscripts, Box 19, Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama. 49 The census figures for and are drawn from Brewer, Alabama: Her History: U.S. Census, Slave Schedule for Alabama, Roll 34: Pickens, Perry, Pike, and Morgan Counties. 50 Pairo, "Kenworthy Hall": 4. 51 Susannah Carlisle, Will Book A: Probate Office, Perry County, Marion, Alabama; U.S. Census, Slave Schedule for Alabama. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 24) family," wrote Pairo in the or "some of the descendants of those slaves are still there."52 According to Harold D.

Woodman, author of King Cotton and His Retainers, much more attention has been focused upon plantation life and the production of cotton than understanding the role of cotton factors in the sale and distribution of cotton. Far from being men with purely self-serving interests who overcharged for their services and controlled planters' crops, in antebellum Alabama cotton factors played a vital role both for the planter and for the cotton industry. Quite simply, the cotton factor was the person that planters employed to conduct their business for them in the major ports. As a cotton factor it was Carlisle's responsibility to find the best market price for the plantation owners, many of whom were life-long acquaintances, friends, and family.

In most cases, the factor kept detailed records of the transactions and the flow of money coming and going from the planters' accounts, yet it was "mutual trust between gentlemen rather than the law and written contracts [which] dominated the relationship."53 The factor was expected to get the best market price for the bales of cotton, at the same time as he was also expected to search for the lowest possible cost for other items throughout the year, including luxury items, groceries, rope, woolen goods, and farm equipment. He also served as a source of loans throughout the year, whenever cash happened to run short or the planter wanted to purchase land or slaves, two of the more expensive and vital commodities in a planter's life.

The factor would note the transactions in his accounts, registering debits and credits against the planters' sale of bales of cotton. In exchange for his services the factor charged 2 for all transactions.54 Often balancing the records of debt extended after the death of a client. When John M. Walthall, Carlisle's wife's cousin, died in Carlisle made claims on the estate for One of the greatest advantages of hiring a factor was that he freed the planter to go about his business on the plantations. The planter might travel to Mobile once or twice a year to conduct business, but was otherwise kept abreast of his accounts through regular correspondence. Like many factors, Carlisle received the cotton bales, even storing them if he needed to wait for an improvement in the market.

This proved beneficial to the planters, who, if they had to oversee the delivery and sale of their own cotton would have had to settle for whatever the market demanded rather than remain too far away from their land awaiting a better price. Many daily 52 Edward Kenworthy Carlisle to Foster Mark Kirksey, 25 March "The Kirksey Collection," Box File 52, William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Pairo, "Kenworthy Hall": 4. 53 Harold D. Woodman, King Cotton and His Retainers: Financing and Marketing the Cotton Crop of the South. (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, xiii. 54 Woodman, King Cotton and His Retainers: xi-xiii; Estate of John M. Walthall, 10 January Inventory Book F, Page Probate Office, Perry County, Marion, Alabama.

ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 25) publications were readily available to the planter declaring the latest market prices so that the factor could also expect the planter to have knowledge of recent rates, albeit a little dated due to slow mails getting up the rivers.

Carlisle often corresponded with his clients on folded foolscap publications such as the Mobile Merchants' Exchange Price Current, with one side of the publication dedicated to prices and the movement of ships and goods in and out of Mobile, and the other side left blank for the factor's correspondence.55 Records survive which detail Carlisle's business relationships with several planters in Marengo County, some of whom Carlisle worked with for many years, and others for only a few transactions. In these records his concerns were for more than just cotton, but also the purchase and sale of farm equipment.

Being a cotton factor and commissions merchant was a competitive business in which Carlisle seems to have fared well, but even he felt the need to advertise regularly in newspapers throughout the Black Belt and to let past clients know that he was still interested in doing business for them. "I passed your plantation once the past summer," wrote Carlisle to John G. Allen. "Not having heard from you for some time prompts me to write you. I once sold cotton for you and hope you will favor me again this season with your patronage." The planter was not limited to sending his business to only one factor or even to one port.

Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans, while not always convenient, offered ready outlets for planters hoping for the greatest profits from their crops.56 Even Carlisle's own family took advantage of the services of other factors at the same time as they did business with Carlisle. When Leonidas N. Walthall had building and decorative materials sent from New York City for his Upjohn designed villa, he had them shipped to one of the best known firms in Mobile, rather than to his brother-in-law. When the Upjohn firm sent goods for Carlisle through the same commission merchants firm, after explicit requests not to, Carlisle reprimanded them sternly because the mistake was not only an insult, it cost him the amount of the commission to obtain his goods.

Walthall was so accustomed to the factor client relationship that he inadvertently turned the office of R. Upjohn & Co. into a commissions merchant agency and only belatedly remembered, after receiving several shipments of goods, to tell them that he fully expected to be charged for their services, implying that purchases had been made as favors rather than as business transactions. The Upjohns offered Walthall irresistible direct access to the New York City markets, and supplied this southern gentleman with pianos, 55 E. K. Carlisle to Mr. J.[L.]Skinner, 27 September Jones Family Papers, William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 56 E. K. Carlisle to John G.

Allen, 29 November Allen Family Papers, Commission Merchants Correspondence, Folder 2, Manuscripts E. K. Carlisle William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Unfortunately, at the time of this research in the summer of the Special Collections Library could not locate Box from the Allen Family Papers, containing 73 documents pertaining to business with E. K. Carlisle. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 26) cookstoves, shawls, lap desks, fine writing paper, fabrics, dress patterns, and kegs of port, sherry and whiskey, like the building supplies.

The onset of the Civil War altered everyone's ways of doing business, particularly in severing the markets in the north that had sustained steady demand for southern cotton. Carlisle, shrewd businessman that he was, endured and even profited during the Civil War. The surviving records of Carlisle & Humphries, one incarnation of Carlisle's factoring business, reveal that the sale of cotton did not cease for many of Carlisle's clients; in fact, profits and prices were at a high.57 An receipt survives from Carlisle to his brother Robert which records that Carlisle sold twenty- seven bales of cotton weighing from 495 to 543 pounds, totaling pounds.

Carlisle sold the cotton for per pound, a good price before the war, when rates usually averaged per pound, depending upon the quality.58 In the middle of the war Carlisle sold one of the finest homes in Marion, the Whitsitt-Scott house on Lafayette Street, for The purchase of the house in may have been made on speculation, but may also have been an attempt to provide his family with a home in the relative safety of town.59 Cotton production continued even as the fighting came very close to Carlisle's home in Marion and ravaged other sections of the Black Belt. Getting the cotton downriver and out of Mobile proved to be the greatest challenge, requiring strategic planning.

Near the close of the war Carlisle had bales of cotton in hiding, as did many other factors, until he could ship it safely from Mobile. One month after the South's surrender many factors brought the most recent stashes of cotton out of hiding to ship it to waiting markets, a decision which cost Carlisle his cotton when Union troops set fire to nearly bales in Mobile Harbor. Although Carlisle sought retribution for the crime, he was never compensated for the loss. Regardless of the amount of money or business he may have gained or lost during the war, the pardon he had to undergo revealed he still owned considerable property.

Carlisle applied to President Andrew Johnson for a pardon under one of the fourteen classes of "Rebels" who were excluded from taking the loyalty oaths required by the Amnesty and Reconstruction Proclamation issued on 29 May Number thirteen included "those who supported the Confederacy and whose taxable property was over In 57 Carlisle and Humphries business ledgers, Manuscripts I, Cabinet VI #6 and Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama. 58 Business receipt, from Carlisle, Smith & Co. to R. C. Carlisle, 1 January until 7 March E. K. Carlisle Papers, Unprocessed Manuscripts, Box 19, Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama. 59 E. K. Carlisle to David Scott, 28 April Deed Book P, Land Records of Perry County, Probate Office, Marion, Alabama.

[I do not have the copy of the deed for the initial purchase of this house and cannot verify what he paid for it or exactly when he bought it.] ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 27) addition to having significant property, the pardon ledger noted that Carlisle "was in favor of secession, believing it would stop slavery agitation," and that he "aided soldiers families."60 After the war Carlisle tested his postwar economic options. Like many cotton factors and commissions merchants, he returned to the ways of business which had made him wealthy, using his contacts and available funds to rebuild the system as he had known it. He created a new commissions merchant partnership with his son, Edward Kenworthy Carlisle, and son-in-law, Alexander W.

Jones, called Carlisle, Jones & Co., located at a corner of Broad and Water Streets in Selma. Prior to the Civil War he had been active in the Commercial Bank of Alabama, and it is likely that he encouraged the younger men in the family to pursue banking in addition to their other business enterprises when they helped establish the City National Bank of Selma in Carlisle had long been accustomed to lending money to planters in advance of their crops.

Between and he recorded seven transactions in the name of Carlisle and Humphries of Mobile in the Dallas County Probate Office for liens and mortgages for to Written into the document, the promissory notes recorded that "said money was obtained by me for the purpose of making a crop, and that without such advance it would not be in my power to procure the necessary team, provisions, labor, and farming utensils to make a crop."62 Unfortunately, planters who turned to the tenant system no longer controlled the entire crop and the old factoring system did not ensure good investments in the post-war South.

Local merchants began to supply credit to the growing number of small farmers and tenants and the merchants gradually discovered that they did not need to turn to factors for credit to pass on to the farmers, selling to buyers in the interior instead.63 Carlisle found himself in just this turmoil, before and during the war the ledgers were full of swift business and high profits, but after entries commonly registered transactions of a few dollars rather than the thousands of dollars which had flowed through the pages before.64 Throughout Alabama farm values tumbled. Farm property worth in was 60 Amnesty and Pardon Ledger, SG Vol I: Edward K. Carlisle, Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama. 61 Jackson, The Storv of Selma: Full page advertisement, The Selma Mirror.

Reprint (Selma, Alabama: Selma Printing Company, unpaginated. The business was initially called Carlisle and Jones, then changed to Carlisle, Jones & Co. 62 Example from the lien of U. T. Kenan to Carlisle and Humphries, 20 June Lien and Mortgage Book W: Land Records of Dallas County, Probate Office, Selma, Alabama. 63 Woodman, King Cotton and His Retainers: xiv. 64 Carlisle, Jones & Co. business ledgers, Manuscripts I, Cabinet VI #5 - #9, Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 28) valued at in a fraction of its pre-war worth. When Lucinda W.

Carlisle paid her taxes for Kenworthy Hall and the surrounding 420 acres were valued at which, if the above numbers are any sign, barely covered the cost of building only one decade before.65 Had Carlisle lived there is no telling how he might have continued to make the transition into the new ways of doing business in the South, but his role in banking and his son- in-law's expanding interests in banking and railroads suggest that he would have positively tested his pragmatic business mind.66 By he deeded Kenworthy Hall to his wife, Lucy, and in wrote a will which left her with the balance of his estate to be divided between his two children.

Even years after Edward Kenworthy Carlisle's death in January his son and son-in-law continued to use his name in their advertisements, perhaps as much for the respect that his name seemed to engender as honoring him as their father.67

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS ALA,53-MARI.V,5-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

ARCHITECTURAL INFORMATION A. General Statement: 1. Architectural character: Kenworthy Hall is a classic example of the asymmetrical Italianate villa style. The house is constructed of brick on a center-hall plan, two stories with a third floor attic space and stairs leading to a fourth-story tower room. Although the Italian villa style became popular in the South with its generous overhanging eaves, houses with the massiveness of Kenworthy were rarer and more characteristic of the North. In its basic structure the house has remained unchanged since it was built, the red brick and brownstone as commanding and richly colored as ever on its hill.

Kenworthy Hall, however, has lost some of its exterior decorative elements which helped defined it as an Italianate villa, particularly the front portico and the rear verandah. The house was fitted with the most updated decorative and practical conveniences of its day, particularly for the Black Belt region of Alabama, including carved marble mantels, interior spaces separating public and family space, large dressing rooms, gas light, sky lights, a bell system, and attention to the movement of air to ventilate the house. 65 Federal Writers' Project, Alabama: 78; Tax receipt from Perry County, E. K. Carlisle Papers, Unprocessed Manuscripts, Box 19, Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama. 66 Jackson. The Story of Selma: Alston Fitts HI.

Selma: Queen Citv of the Black Belt (Selma, Alabama: Clairmont Press, 64. Alexander W. Jones served as president of two railroads, the Selma and Greensboro and the New Orleans and Selma. 67 Edward K. Carlisle to Lucinda W. Carlisle, 17 June Deed Book R: Land Records of Perry County, Probate Office, Marion, Alabama; Will of Edward Kenworthy Carlisle, written 20 July recorded 14 February Will Book B, page Probate Office, Marion, Alabama; The Selma Directory for (Selma, Alabama: Ross A. Smith): 42. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 29) 2. Condition of fabric: The current condition of Kenworthy Hall is fair to good.

The house still suffers from problems originating with its years of abuse and abandonment, particularly from water damage due to broken windows, poorly installed stove pipe vents, and previously missing drain spouts. One of the greatest battles that residents have fought in maintaining the house is the accumulation of mold and mildew on the interior walls. On the exterior walls mold has built up along the drain spout areas, and lichen and moss has grown on many of the walls, but especially on the northern side. The soundness and quality of the house's original construction has allowed for its survival, both through its periods of neglect and revival.

Restoration to the property has always been done with a sensitive eye towards utility and personal preferences rather than with the desire to recreate a model period home. Elements of the house, such as the verandah, shutters, and some interior wood details, and other items yet unknown, are stored in the carriage shed. Aside from casual observers offering their opinions and assessments, some with more professional skills than others, the house and its grounds have never undergone materials analysis. Kenworthy Hall functions as a private home, and there are no plans in the future to document the structure more fully, particularly on the decorative level. B. Description of Exterior: 1.

Overall dimensions: At the first floor, Kenworthy Hall measures across the front, east-west, north-south on the side of the parlor and smoking room, and north-south from the sitting room to the end of the pantry/kitchen, From the finished first floor to the slight peak of the flat roof the height of the building is 2. Foundations: The foundations are made of brick, topped by a beveled water table of brownstone which runs three quarters of the perimeter of the house, except for where the rear verandah and covered walkway once hid the north side. The foundation height of the main house averages about from ground to the first-floor joist with an "opening sufficient to ventilate under floor," while the outside and supporting foundation thicknesses measure and the secondary walls IT'.

Carlisle stipulated that the foundation height measure "3' from the ground at the highest part of the ground."68 To the rear of the house are two entrances at basement level, one constructed of cement wash over brick to the two-room cellar and the second to the crawl space. Two small arched windows light the cellar, while six oval cast-iron vents (one cover missing) are set into the foundation at all sides of the house to aid ventilation. The separate kitchen likewise has brick foundations, although the water table is brick rather than brownstone, and the north room is elevated to provide a crawl space with a rear entrance. 3. Walls: The red brick walls are laid in stretcher bond interspersed at each floor level with a projecting string course of molded brownstone.

At the roof level is a projecting brick string course at the underside of the overhang. An additional string course projects from each side of the base of the first-floor window arch on the west gable section of the house. This particular Carlisle to Upjohn, 19 July ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 30) string course, unlike the rest, is molded and has a significant chunk broken out of the middle of one of the pieces, which originated in its shipment to the building site in Brick inset- paneling appears under the stone window sill of the parlor and sitting rooms on the first floor, and also appears under all twelve of the tower-room windows.

The mortar is white and of a hard finish, and was perhaps of a better quality than other builders in the community were accustomed to seeing.70 Most weathering on the brick has occurred at points where the gutter drains were left unrepaired prior to particularly in two places on the west wall, on each side of the projecting gable at the first-floor level.71 The weathering of the front portico and its subsequent pulling away from the wall allowed water damage to the brick on the west side of the front entrance, which has since been badly repointed with heavy mortar. Large portions of the north wall are covered with mildew and lichen, especially where the verandah and covered walkway kept direct light from the house.

Most of the brick has lightened with exposure to the elements, except for under the eaves, where it is a richer, deeper color of red with hints of maroon. The muted tone of the brownstone string courses and window hoodmolds and sills compliment the darker tone of the red brick, a feature of the house that has not been subject to redecorating whims and makes the building identifiable and seem unchanged in photographs and sketches from any period. The kitchen-building walls are of common bond and the base course marked by a header row of brick. The brick type changes just above the top of the door leading into the kitchen, creating a dark solid band up to the single row of projecting below the eaves. 4.

Structural system, framing: The house is framed of circular-sawn studs and joists on load- bearing masonry walls. Carlisle expressed concern that the house be able withstand the harsh temperatures and winds of the south. "You may think [the walls] very thick," he wrote, "but we must have thick walls in this country, and strong," in part to protect the thick and expensive plastering work. "We will build a solid wall, I want the house well keyed together with iron fastenings or rods." Walthall shared Carlisle's concern about the need for a solid frame and they likely enhanced each other's zeal on the subject. Walthall was concerned that his frame be solid enough to protect the he was about to spend getting his walls plastered.

"I hope that the frame will be strongly braced," he wrote, "so as not to be shaken by the high winds to which 69 Carlisle to R. Upjohn & Co., 7 June 70 Mark London's book on masonry, Masonry: How to Care for Old and Historic Brick and Stone (Washington, The Preservation Press, says that cement mortar was not used much until after creating more consistent bonding finishes than builders masons had achieved before. Builders in the Perry County area were curious about improving their mortars. B. F. Parsons, when about to construct the Perry County Court House in even wrote two letters to Richard Upjohn asking about the best way to make mortar.

[Conversation with Jeff Mansell.] 71 Photographs from the Hill family's private collection show this drain pipe in two stages, unattached in a pre-purchase photo in and then again in after repairs had been made. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 31) our climate is subject. The preservation of the plastering from cracking, I think, depends upon a good frame."72 5. Verandahs, covered walkways, balconies, porticoes: The house originally had three verandahs and porticoes and one balcony. The front portico has been replaced and the rear verandah and covered walkway are now missing.

The verandah, which ran the length of the north facade, appears in photographs up until (figure 9) The remains of it were dismantled and stacked in the carriage shed, although it is difficult to discern exactly how much survives. Near the top of the stack is one of the carved posts. Four pairs of posts stood along the northern edge of the verandah with single ones attached to the house wall at either end. Ghostings of the pillar engaged the wall, outlined in white paint, flank the east and west ends of the wall. Arches crossed between the sets of posts, and above the arches and in a rectangle between each pair, wood arabesques offered lacy detail.

The walkway from the verandah to the kitchen building revealed its more utilitarian purpose by having simpler, bracketed posts as well as a step down towards the level of the kitchen. The servant's bell board, which had connections to rooms throughout the house, survives to the right of the verandah over the servants' entrances. Flashing reveals the profile of the half-hipped roof against the house and the gabled roof of the covered walkway as it met the kitchen building.

The importance of the verandah to the overall design of the building is also apparent in Carlisle's luxurious use of brownstone at the mid-point and tops of the brick piers.74 He vetoed the use of brownstone anyplace in the house he considered too utilitarian or not visible, thus its absence under the verandah and in the kitchen, but its presence in the substantial piers. The verandah and walkway floors were wood, and early HABS photographs show that at least the ceiling of the verandah was of beaded double-joist with cross boards. The present replacement for the verandah is more of a large, concrete stoop. Wide steps lead up to an open platform, accessing the doors into the storage area and the servants' entrance to the house.

It extends one-quarter of the distance of the original structure. The original front portico featured carved bracketed pillars with open wood carving detail which matched that of the rear verandah, topped with a balustrade enclosed balcony. The balcony accessed the two dressing rooms on the second floor, over the main hall. Outlines of the railings as well as a photograph show that the balcony railings engaged level with the wood arched rails of the window balcony to the west. Likewise, ghostings of light blue paint survive below the present porch roof, showing that Carlisle adhered to the southern preference for painting the porch soffits light blue. Leonidas Walthall puzzled over this feature of his house and had asked 72 Carlisle to Upjohn, 19 July Walthall to R.

Upjohn & Co., 7 December 73 Carlisle consistently called this section of the house a piazza. 74 Carlisle to R. Upjohn & Co., 22 September ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 32) Upjohn "what should the colour of the ceiling over head in the Piazza and walk to the kitchen?"75 The upper railing of the portico echoed the overall theme of arches, with three sets of six arches linked across the front, and one set of six on each side connected to the house. The portico had a front entrance, unlike the side entrances on the architects' rendering of the house. This rendering has commonly led people to believe that the portico had side entrances, however both photographic and documentary evidence reveal a single, front entrance.

Carlisle appended a note to his letter of 27 November writing, "In giving the design to enlarging portico please make it for the steps to be in front instead of the sides as in your drawing. We prefer steps on front." On each side of the entrance towards the front, then, spanned two wood cross-braces. It is no longer apparent what the foundation of the original portico may have been, except that it was constructed after the main house and that Carlisle inquired whether or not the stone had been sent for its piers.76 Photographic evidence shows that the portico has been reconstructed several times over the years, with new posts and steps of different widths appearing every twenty years or so.

The cross-bracing across the front railing and along the sides of the portico has continued on every replacement porch into the present. The current porch has iron hand rails, wood flooring, painted red, and red brick steps which span almost the entire width of the porch. Unadorned square posts, on a slightly projecting plinth, support the gently sloped asphalt shingled roof, bringing the visual line of the structure significantly lower than the portico that Carlisle had built. The slope of the roof hides the brownstone arch of the entrance, something that would have been entirely visible and meant to impress in Upjohn's plan.

The base to the current porch appears to be brick, but the different craftsmanship from the main house makes it appear that none of the work is from the earlier portico. The steps, as are the steps of the west verandah and kitchen entrance, are made from the brick of tenant house and barn foundations, long since removed from the property.77 The small verandah on the west side of the building is the only porch which retains most of its original features. A tall, wide arch opens to the south with a smaller arched window appearing within the opening. The inner wall of the verandah is the thinnest in the house, with a single layer of brick covered with lath and stucco on the exterior wall. The ceiling is lath and plaster.

Brick steps, that the Martins had built, lead to a brownstone threshold and a wood floor. Brick flanks the sides of the entrance and a large molded-brownstone arch connects the two sides, resting on the brownstone molded string course which wraps around the entire gabled section of the house. A wood baseboard and wood ceiling cornice, like that used in most of the interior rooms, finish the top and bottom of the stuccoed inner wall. The window trim, including sill, is also of wood, rather than the brownstone trim of all of the other windows. While small 75 Walthall to R. Upjohn & Co., 8 June 76 Carlisle to R. Upjohn & Co., 27 November 77 Heber Martin, conversation with the author, 11 June and 30 July ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO.

AL-765 (page 33) verandahs are common features on Italianate buildings, this one was created because Carlisle wanted a private entrance for the family and saw the opportunity to create one out of what would have been a dead-end internal space near the sewing room. The verandah used to have door- sized shutters attached to each side, enabling the family to entirely close off the entrance. The shutter dogs are gone, but the stumps of iron pegs that they attached to are still visible embedded in the mortar, every five bricks.78 The balcony on the south facade, off of the second-floor tower room, is one of the more recognizable and elaborate features of the house. Each section of the wood rail is a miniature version of the front of the original portico, with three sets three of arches.

Each section of the rail attaches to squared posts constructed with inset panels. The balcony floor rests on four wood scroll-sawn brackets. The flared metal hipped-roof of the hood is supported with two brackets, trimmed with triangular arabesques at the inner corners. Paneled soffits decorate the outer edge of the hood, met by two carved pendants at the top of the brackets. The four-sided swirled carved pattern on the pendant, ending with a pendant drop, also appears in the house on the main stairwell. Beaded joists support the sheeting. The balcony is intact except for one missing baluster on the right side railing, but overall it needs paint and some repair, especially along the handrail. 6. Chimneys: There are four chimneys on the house.

Each has brick panels on all four sides, with beveled brownstone trim where the stepped chimney narrows to the chimney shaft, and again for the chimney cap. A brick tooth band projects under the stone caps. The original chimneys did not seem to have a chimney hood or chimney pots to protect the opening from rain and animals getting inside. Subsequent owners, since the have put metal sheeting across three of the openings and created an upright metal protector over the chimney which services the library and office fireplaces. A stove vent had been inserted in the pantry at some point, but it has since been removed. The vent appears in a real estate brochure photograph of the house in and is still visible in a HABS photo a year later, after the house was sold.

The two western-most chimneys, on the tower and the one closest to it, show signs of previous repairs. The mortar joints have been heavily repointed and the north-west chimney has had one brownstone band replaced with cement. The separate kitchen presently has two brick chimneys, one original to the structure servicing the two fireplaces, and the other added when a wood- burning stove was installed in the ironing room. The original chimney has beveled brownstone trim at the base of the stack, but a brick chimney cap. The cap needs repair, with several bricks missing on the east side. 7. Openings: 78 One photograph shows the west verandah shutters in place, the ca. postcard reveals the left-hand shutter already tilted at an angle. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO.

AL-765 (page 34) a. Doorways and doors: Besides the main entrance on the south part of the house and the family's private entrance on the west, there are five other entrances, all at the rear of the house. All but one functioned as service entrances from the kitchen and other work areas off of the north facade. The front doorway has a recessed entrance, a brownstone threshold and sill, sidelights, an arched transom, and a segmented molded-arch brownstone lintel. The sidelights and arched transom likewise have heavy brownstone surrounds, with brownstone panels below the sidelights. Wood roll trim frames the outer arch of the door, just inside of the brownstone surrounds. A 3" x 1" silver-plated name-plate, engraved E. K.

CARLISLE in block capital letters, survives of the Carlisles* doorbell to the right side of the door, although it shows signs of people trying to pry it off. The turning mechanism is missing, but it had a square stem. The exterior of the oak double doors and the surrounding wooden trim is currently painted red. Each door has two beveled and raised panels and appears to have its original hinges and screen doors. The massive original doorknob and workings were forcibly removed and have been replaced with new brass mortise workings. The Carlisles decided to have stained glass installed in the arch transom and sidelights of the front entrance and for the first landing of the stairwell, and requested that R. Upjohn & Co. send several possible designs.

After a five month delay, Upjohn sent only one design for the entrance which Carlisle was relieved to discover he liked, provided that Upjohn "leave off that blue" and substitute the border of the "circular light... like the side light." Carlisle expressed his concern as to the quality of glass installed in his home and insisted that Upjohn give it his personal attention, "as there is so much inferior," and "French stained glass the best." Vandals broke the glass in the and no pieces of it remain. A poor quality copy of a HABS photo shows an etched quatrefoil in the transom and a dark line a few inches from the edge.79 The four main doors on the north side of the house are shorter than the other entrance doors to accommodate the verandah which once covered them.

All have flat molded brownstone lintels, wood thresholds, brownstone sills, wood door frames set into brick, and screen doors. The screen doors throughout the house all share the same hardware and form, and appear to have been built with the house. The doors which enter the storage area and servants' stair have two base panels, then a four-light window above to allow light into what would have been otherwise windowless, dark spaces. The pantry entrance and entrance below the main stairwell each have four-paneled doors. The main stairwell entrance has sidelights, and the door now opens onto a steep drop because the verandah is gone and the current porch does not extend that far east.

Upjohn's original plan called for an entrance onto the verandah from the smoking room, the northeast room on the first floor, but Carlisle omitted it, preferring a different arrangement in the windows, and perhaps less easy outside access to what was to be his personal and business space. Both Carlisle and Walthall placed family safes in their respective smoking rooms. 79 Letters from Carlisle to R. Upjohn & Co. which discuss the selection of stained-glass include 27 June 12 September 1 October and 19 October ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 35) The doorway to the cellar is even shorter than the others, made to fit the truncated space below the verandah. Several brick steps go beneath ground level, leading to the four-panel door.

Despite being in a difficult to access space that was not highly visible, the lintel was of brownstone, although the sill and threshold are of brick, like the walkway floor and walls leading from the edge of the verandah to the entrance. The family's private entrance door on the west side of the house was largely invisible to general passersby and protected from the elements by the verandah walls. The door is the same width of the doors to the rear, but the height of the verandah ceiling makes it appear narrower. Carlisle apparently decided that he could spare expense on this entrance, choosing to make the lintel, sill, threshold and surrounds all of wood, rather than any part of brownstone.

When open, the door provides a key to the circulation of air throughout the house, especially to those rooms connected to the spiral stair. The current owners installed a doorbell in this location. Carlisle requested that the doors and windows of the kitchen dependency come from their old home less than a mile away rather than be constructed specially for the building.

"We shall not want any doors for kitchen nor sash or glass," he wrote to Upjohn, "as those in our present house are of the best quality and will answer for the Kitchen."80 Two doorways lead into the kitchen dependency, one from the south into the kitchen half of the building, where the covered walkway once sheltered it, and the other to the east, leading into the rear of the building to what was once the ironing and wash room. Both doors have wood thresholds, brownstone sills, and brick rowlocks. Concrete steps lead up to a concrete platform at the rear door, the space below providing shelter for the current residents' red rooster. The two-paneled door and its screen are not used, and are now partially covered with particle board.

From the inside the door is covered with a large piece of furniture. The rear door may be a replacement and seems to have suffered significant wear. The steps leading up to the four-paneled kitchen door were built by the Martins. Tracings of the walkway support pillars flank the upper part of the door and gable-roof flashing remains above it. b. Windows and shutters: Everard M. Upjohn, grandson of Richard Upjohn and author of Richard Upjohn, Architect and Churchman, despaired at the number and variety of windows in his grandfather's Italianate villa designs, noting the "appalling variety of sizes and shapes."81 Kenworthy Hall abounds in windows of different shapes and sizes, although the general construction of the windows remains consistent throughout most of the building.

Most of the windows are single-hung sash windows, have wood surrounds, brick lintels, projecting segmented corbel-arched brownstone hoods on second floor and round-arch brownstone hoods on first floor, which end in brackets, and projecting brownstone sills on square brownstone 80 Carlisle to Upjohn, 2 August 81 Everard M. Upjohn, Richard Upiohn. Architect and Churchman (New York: Columbia University Press, 94. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 36) brackets. This arrangement of sill, surround, and lintel is implied unless otherwise stated in the description. Carlisle requested many times that there be plenty of windows for good light and air circulation.

"We prefer long windows." he wrote, "as proper ventilation all important in this climate," yet he was adamant that none of the windows reach the floor. All of the windows were broken during Kenworthy Hall's period of vandalism, so while most of the sashes seem to be original, some of the muntins may be replacements. All of the glass and sashes for the house were imported from New York.82 The two cellar windows are the most altered windows in the house because they are closed off and no longer of use. They have segmental arched lintels of alternating soldier and rowlock bricks, wood frames, and projecting brownstone sill, which begin a few inches above the ground.

The deeply recessed windows likely contained plain glass and may have been the only source of light into the cellar, even though the rest of the house was outfitted with gas fixtures. It is no longer possible to determine how many panes of glass that the windows may have had. The first floor has seventeen windows, five full-arched two-over-two windows, two smaller two-over-two full arched windows, six six-over-six windows, two two-over-two rectangular windows, and two six-over-six rectangular windows at the rear of the house, under where the verandah covered the smoking room. The east windows in the front parlor caused more turmoil during construction than any other part of the house.

Carlisle changed his mind early in the design process from having a square bay window with four smaller windows to the two full- arched windows, but the Upjohn firm did not change the order for the brownstone or sashes. The error caused a six week delay in the building schedule. The desire for a consistent facade seemed to determine the appearance of the windows on any given side of the house rather than the rooms in which the windows appeared. Thus, the smoking room has the two rectangular windows to the north and a larger six-over-six full-arched window to the east, to match the windows of the parlor and library.

Likewise, the pantry at the north-west corner of the house has a flat molded-brownstone lintel on the window facing west, and a lesser quality slightly arched brick lintel towards the side once under the covered walkway. The only window on the first floor which does not have any brownstone nestles behind the protective wall of the west verandah. Its lintel, sash, sills, and trim are entirely of wood. The second floor has twenty-two windows. The most consistent window feature is the elliptical arch, appearing in nineteen windows, eighteen six-over-six windows on all sides of the house, and for one nine-over-six window, servicing the front balcony.

The balcony window opens by sliding up into the wall above, with the top of the window frame falling back into place once the window is closed again. The other exceptions are the two portico balcony full-arch six-over-four windows, and the large full-arch two-over-two stairwell window, which once had stained glass. 82 Carlisle to Upjohn, 27 May Carlisle to Upjohn & Co., 3 July ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 37) The attic space has four windows, two round windows centrally located under each gable and a pair of small full-arched windows servicing the third-floor room under the tower. These two single-light casement windows use the brownstone string course as their sill.

The round windows function as both sources of light into the recesses of the attic and to help ventilate the house. Each is surrounded with a molded projecting rim of brown-stone. The window used to have a hinged wood frame holding a center circular light, with five or six lights fanning out from the center circle. The windows have been replaced with electric fans, although the frames are still stored in the attic.83 The tower has twelve full-arched casement windows, each with a single piece of glass. Sets of three windows are centered on each side of the tower. The brownstone arches meet across the tops and the brownstone sills do not have brackets, like most of the other windows. The kitchen dependency has five six-over-six windows, two facing west and one on each of the other walls.

Each has a brick lintel, a wood sill, and is of single hung sash. All of the windows except those on the tower and the room below the tower had louvered shutters. Photos as late as show some of the shutters still attached to the windows, particularly the stationary sections at the tops of the full and elliptical-arched windows. Even the entrance to the west verandah and the window inside had shutters, as evidenced by both photographs and shutter dogs.

Carlisle considered installing Venetian blinds to be opened and closed from inside the house, but as construction of the house continued, he decided that "I want them to hang or swing out side," with "the arched part you said would be stationary." He ordered his shutters complete with "two coats good paint." The previous owner stacked a pile of shutters in the old carriage shed, each shutter showing a different shade of faded green, the degree of fading likely depending upon which side of the building each had been installed, (figure 10) This paint may or may not be original, as Carlisle does not specify paint color and there has not been any paint analysis done on them. 8. Roof: a.

Shape, covering: The main house basically has a low-pitched hip roof, as does the kitchen, although the main roof is nearly flat at the top, except for a slight incline to help direct water run- off. The roof line changes to accommodate the house's asymmetrical features, particularly the tower, the two gable ends, and the bay of the octagonal rooms. The roof of both the main house and kitchen dependency are of a metal material (perhaps terne-plate) with a standing seam, except for the flat top. Stamped on each sheet of the metal roofing are the words: POTTS A. L. T. IC 83 The only image which shows the attic-gable windows with any clarity is the ca. postcard. (See figure 1) ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO.

AL-765 (page 38) OPEN HEARTH OLD STYLE 40 POUNDS COATING Many of the seams, especially on the flatter section and around the chimney flashing, have been mended with a variety of materials, but overall the roof remains solid. A heavy-duty built-in gutter system outlines the entire roofline and feeds into pipes which once led into the cistern, located just west between the main house and kitchen dependency. Sturdy metal hooks extend down from the roof edge to help support the entire drainage system. Lower sections of the drainage pipes have had to be replaced, but those at the roofline seem to have endured. b.

Cornice, eaves: The wide exposed eaves of the entire house overhang and are supported by heavy wood scroll-sawn brackets, spaced evenly around the structure and centered at the gable peaks. Above the double row of the projecting brick cornice is the fascia board, with roll trim at the top and bottom. There are a several places where the outer edge of the eaves is rotting. The kitchen eaves consist of one row of projecting brick and a series of shaped wood moldings as simple decorative trim, but they do not a have a gutter system or any brackets. c. Gables, towers: One gable faces south and another faces west. The south gable in one of the early plans was a low tower, but Carlisle asked that it be changed to a gable.

A four-story hipped roof tower dominates the south-west section of the house, (figure 11) d. Skylights: Two skylights project from the roof of the main house, one next to the tower and the other east of the first. Each skylight has six pieces of wire glass, three on each side in metal frames, raised upwards to shed water and to form a gable with metal at each end. Vents at each end dispel moisture buildup. When the house was vandalized these windows were broken along with the rest, and were replaced with wire glass.

The skylights were original to the house and were included as a logical solution to light the dark stairwell and to bring light to those spaces darkened by cutting them off as "family space." One of the skylights works at two levels, once at the attic and then at the roof level. Below the eastern skylight are two openings in the attic floor which allow light to filter down to the linen storage area and to one of the dressing rooms below, which now serves as the second-floor bathroom. Walthall installed two skylights around the same time in his Upjohn Italianate villa, with "thick ribbed glass" protecting a layer of stained glass below.84 C. Description of Interior 1. Floor Plans: 84 Walthall to R. Upjohn & Co., 13 December ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO.

AL-765 (page 39) a. Basement: There is a small, three-room basement under the northwest corner of the house, under the pantry, storage, and servants' entrance areas. All of the rooms have white-washed brick floors and walls. Step-back ledges create storage spaces around many of the edges of the rooms, beginning after the sixth brick course up from the floor. Brick laid in common bond makes up the wall brickwork of the entire basement, while the exposed joists and boards from the rooms above the basement create the unfinished ceiling. Electric lines and other more recently installed utilities fit between the joists. Two entrances serve the basement, each leading into a different section.

Carlisle requested only two basement rooms with a single entrance from the north under the verandah, but the addition of an interior entrance ultimately created a third room to the east, connected to the servants' stairwell area on the first floor by wood steps which are little more than a ladder of treads without risers. Carlisle intended that the relatively small spaces be used for food storage, for barrels offish and molasses, and for wines and liquors.85 The largest room, in the northwestern corner of the house, is the only one with an interior door and windows. The four-paneled door has a brick threshold, and wood lintel and surrounds, whereas the windows have brick sills, brick rowlock arches, and flat wood sills above the arches.

The low brick step-back shelf extends the perimeter of the room. In the central room the shelf is only on the north wall, and in the eastern-most room it is only on the south wall and half of the west wall. The rest of the house has high crawl spaces, but none meant for any utilitarian purposes except ventilation. b. First Floor: The first floor of the house is basically a center-hall plan, with a cross hall intersecting about two-thirds of the way into the hall. The layout of the first floor divides into three distinct areas, each defined by the stairwell which services it: public spaces, areas where servants had ready access, and the more private family sections of the house. East of the main hall were the more public spaces, including the parlor, library and smoking room.

At the north end of the main hall a branched stairway rises from the juncture of the main hall with the north edge of the cross hall and leads to the second floor. A stained glass window once overlooked the landing, now lit by clear replacement glass. To the west of the main hall is the sitting room, with access to the family entrance, hallway and stairwell, the sewing room, and a closet, the latter two of which now serve, respectively, as a full and a half bath. The rooms which cluster at the west end of the cross hall include the dining room, kitchen/pantry, storage area, and the servants' hall. This area provided the greatest flow of traffic to and from the kitchen dependency and several other buildings that used to be north of the house.

Six doorways exit the building on the first floor, one from either end of the main hallway, three from the north accessing the exterior service areas of the house, and one off the hallway near the family stair in the west part of the house. The two-room, single-level, kitchen dependency is now used for storage, but the front room once served as the kitchen and the rear as an ironing and washroom. 85 Carlisle to Upjohn, 4 May ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 40) c. Second Floor: Most of the rooms on the second floor follow the same plan as on the first. The six rooms functioned as bedrooms in the past and in the present.

The rooms that the Carlisle family used can be determined by the location of dressing rooms and those rooms with proximity to the elliptical stairs and family corridor. The family's rooms generally have dressing rooms and closets and the guest bedrooms do not, except for the son's room, over the west verandah and sewing room. The cross hall still exists on this level, but the area taken by the main hall on the first floor becomes dressing rooms, linen closets, and private hall space on the second floor. Another difference between the two floor plans is that above the first floor verandah and sewing room is the smallest of the bedrooms. The family section of the house contained the most complicated combination of hallways, closets, and servants' entrances in Kenworthy Hall.

When Carlisle modified the original plans for the house he made certain that each family member's room have its own entrance, so no one would have to trespass upon the privacy of another to gain access to his or her room, thus creating more through passages. Only the family and servant stairways continue up the attic. No rooms exist over the first floor pantry, finished at this level with a hipped roof.86 d. Attic and third floor tower: Entered from both the family and the servants' stairs, the large open attic covers the entire asymmetrical plan of the house. The open-rafter ceilings go from comfortable standing height across most of the attic, and slope, except at the brick gable ends, towards the brick walls of all of the outer edges.

Wood flooring and generous overhead clearance make all of the space usable for storage. The room below the tower is the only finished section at the attic level of the house, including wood lath and plaster walls and ceiling. A closed-string stair off of the east side of the room leads up to the tower room above, creating an alcove space in the room below. e. Fourth floor tower: The tower room is square and has windows on all sides. The room is finished, with wood lath and plaster walls and heart pine floors like those on the lower floors. A protective wood balustrade with square newels and square balusters, frame the north and west sides of the closed-string stairwell opening.

Aside from the room's fictional fame as the place from which a young woman spied her faithful servant mistakenly signaling the news of her fiance's death and plunging to her own, the room has also served more mundane tasks as raising silk worms and drying laundry in its strong cross breeze. 2. Stairways: There are three main stairways in the house, one in the main and cross hall leading to the second floor, one which extends from the basement to the attic, and another which leads from the first floor to the attic. (Please see the basement and attic descriptions for details about the basement and tower segments of the stairs.) The main stairway is an open-string branching stair, with decorative brackets on the open string.

The stair rises fifteen steps to a landing, splits on each side 180 degrees, and continues thirteen more steps to the second floor cross hall. A few of the balusters have been replaced, but they are indistinguishable from the originals. The 86 Carlisle to Upjohn, 4 May and 27 May ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 41) massive hexagonal starting newel posts have had their newel caps replaced with ones much larger than the original carved rosette-like caps which appear in early photographs. The earlier caps look like flattened versions of the pediments which hang nearly above them from the upper landing below the landing newel posts. Only one carved rosette survives near the top of the right hand newel post.

A pre-1950 photograph shows that most these may have been gone long before the house was left vacant when a lot of the other damage occurred.87 (figure 12) Oak octagon pillars support the first landing. The entire area behind the stair is paneled, including the stair soffit and recessed window panels. The wood paneling, verandah door, and sidelight surrounds are grain-painted, whereas the stair soffit and cornice molding are stained dark rather than painted, a distinct contrast existing between the finished surfaces. Roll-trim outlines all the edges to the door, window and wall trim, as well as the darker cornice, which has a double row of roll-trim. Two sets of landing newels support the handrail, one at the landing and one at the second floor cross hall.

None of the woodwork on the main stairway has ever been painted. Considering that most of the trim in the rest of the house is grain-painted to look like oak, the wood that remains unembellished emphasizes its importance as a decorative focal point of the house. The current owners oil the wood occasionally to condition the surface. Directly to the west of the main stair the servants' hall contains an open-string stairway. The balustrade has a simple rounded handrail and turned balusters which follow the curved winder uninterrupted up the attic level. The stairway is not elaborate, but well finished. Elements of the stairwell retain some of its original paint.

Beginning at the second floor landing, two doors, trim, steps, floor, balustrade, and wall-string all retain their drab colors, whereas most of the surfaces on the first floor have been painted a harvest gold color. An elliptical stair in the family section of the house, winding around an elliptical shaped well, leads from the first floor to the attic. On the first floor the hallway is enclosed, but on the second floor it opens onto a longer corridor, then turns up again towards the attic landing below a skylight. As the stair approaches the second floor, three steps lead off to the right to a small landing, a closet, and a door leading to the family room. To the left are three steps leading towards the second floor corridor, mentioned above, which also functions as a landing.

When the Martins moved into Kenworthy hall, the wood handrail and half dozen balusters survived in a pile at the base of the stair. The Martins replaced the dozens of missing turned balusters with copies made to look like the surviving elements. The rail, original to the house, is a piece likely ordered pre-made from a millwork catalog, for it is similar to a number of mid-to-late nineteenth century houses whose stairwells had the same profile. The balustrade flows in a continuous line from the starting newel to where the handrail meets the attic door jamb. The entire stairway has recently been painted brown.

On the first floor level beneath the spiral stair nestles a closet that likely stored fuel, especially since one of the reasons Carlisle wanted this entrance was to ease 87 Kenworthy Hall Main Staircase, pre-1950, Photographic Collection, Perry County Historical Society, Marion, Alabama. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 42) hauling fuel to the numerous fireplaces. The door to this closet consists of four lengthwise beaded boards and the interior is brick and rough plaster. 3. Flooring: The flooring throughout most of the house is of 5 "unfinished heart pine. The attic and servant's room on the third floor, and the rear laundry portion of the kitchen dependency, however, are laid with 7" boards.

The direction the floorboards seems more determined by the demands of construction and structural supports rather than any preferences that the Carlisle family may have had about their floors, for there is no other discernible reason why some rooms have boards going one direction and other rooms the boards going another direction. On the first floor the boards in the main hall, cross hall, parlor, sitting room, family stair, and sewing room run north-south, and the library, smoking room, servants' hall and dining room run east-west. The utility room and kitchen are covered with linoleum, the current layer installed by the present owners. The floorboards in the kitchen dependency run north-south, and the basement has a brick floor.

On the second floor most of the boards run the same direction as their corresponding rooms below. In the parent's and daughter's rooms, the cross hall, and the various dressing rooms and other small storage spaces the boards all run north-south. Rooms with floorboards running east-west include the octagonal bedroom, the room over the smoking room, and the family room. A few rooms' floorboards do not correspond to their first floor counterparts, such as the floors in the servants' stair and the son's bedroom, where the boards run north-south instead of east-west. The attic floorboards run north-south, but the servant's and tower rooms have boards laid east-west.

Wall-to-wall carpets cover the floors in the first-floor family stair hall and sewing room/bathroom, and on the second floor throughout the spiral stair corridor and in the octagonal bedroom. Because many of the floors are covered with room size area rugs and a few have wall-to-wall carpet, it is difficult to discern the overall condition or previous treatments of many of the floors. A few floors, for example, are rumored to have been chopped by individuals seeking valuables hidden during the Civil War and other floors damaged in response to ghost stories about the house. The first floor family stair hall, for example, is now covered with carpet, but a rectangular patch, about 2' x 3", is discernible under the carpet.

Kay Klasson, owner and resident from claimed that tenants cut out the floor because they believed that the wailing they heard at night was from a spot on the hall floor, where a baby was said to have died from a fall. Likewise, burn marks on the floor in the sitting room, reports Vera Holcombe, were from tenants who burned logs in the fire without chopping them into appropriate sizes, instead pushing the logs into the fire as they burned outwards. Any number of causes, no matter how far-fetched to those hearing about them today, could be responsible for similar types of damage throughout the house.88 88 "Haunted antebellum home in Marion lives again," Birmingham News Magazine.

9 September Vera Holcombe, interview with the author, 12 June ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 43) 4. Wall and ceiling finish: The walls and ceilings are all lath and plaster applied, with different methods, to the brick exterior walls and to brick partition walls. Carlisle was adamant, however, about how plaster should be applied to his walls to promote their durability in a climate as hot and humid as Alabama. The interior brick walls have thick horsehair-added plaster applied directly to the brick. Lath and plaster is only on those walls that partition closets, baths, and are not part of the brick structural system.

The exterior walls of all the rooms, in contrast, have 1- of air space created by fastening timbers to the brick, with lath and plaster then attached to the timbers. Carlisle requested this wall treatment in order to prevent dampness, which he knew would penetrate through the brick, from damaging the expensive plaster. His estimations proved correct, because were it not for the windows being broken out for so many years, the plaster could have endured soundly. Despite the repairs that the past two owners have had to make, much of the plaster is in surprisingly good condition. Only one wall in the house is a stud wall with plaster, the verandah/sewing room wall.89 There is no evidence of any wall treatments other than paint on any of the walls.

Had wallpaper been a part of the original decoration scheme, years of mold and moisture buildup seems to have discouraged subsequent residents from keeping it or applying it themselves. When the Martins moved to Kenworthy Hall, they removed decades of mold and mildew growth from the walls, having to scrub at the surface with burlap bags to grind off the growth. The closet at the west end of the second-floor family corridor still shows some of the problems that they tackled throughout the house. Currently all the walls and trim that do not retain their original grain- painting are painted white, except for the green trim at the top of the spiral stairs and in the tower.

Without formal testing it is difficult to discern what might have been some of the earlier wall and trim paint treatments, except for the recollections of past residents and a few places where a tell-tale chip reveals a different color below. In the for example, the Hills' recall their being "gaudy" green and blue walls in some of the downstairs rooms.

They painted everything a "neutral" color before moving into the house.90 In the late Kay Klasson painted the dining room green and her room, the bay window room on the second floor, bright pink, which the current owners have had a hard time disguising under coats of white.91 In the sitting room on the west wall a chip in the ceiling cornice paint shows a drab tan color beneath the white, not unlike some of the original paint colors which remain in some of the lesser used service areas of the house. The HABS photographs taken in and offer hints that a 89 Carlisle to Upjohn, 19 July the thickness of the plaster was measured from the closet at the west end of the family corridor and from the exposed plaster where the medallion has fallen from above the main stairway.

90 Beverly Hill Furniss, interview with the author, 21 June 91 Nell Martin, interview with the author, 11 June ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 44) multi-valued color scheme appeared on the door trim of the son's room near the spiral stair and in the cornice and molding of the parlor.92 Many aspects of the trim is the same throughout the house, with some elaboration on basic forms distinguishing the more formal rooms from those less public, and distinguishing the first-floor rooms from those on the second floor and above. Beginning on the first floor, the sitting room, library, and main and cross hall share a heavy plaster cornice with a heavy-paneled soffit. This pattern also serves as the cornice design on the second-floor cross hall.

The parlor has all the same features in its cornice, but adds a leaf and tongue detail at the upper edge, as well as a shallow ovolo molding about a foot into the room from the other molding. The smoking room, sewing room, dining room, hallway, and stairwell molding, then, share a different pattern of heavy plaster cornice. Beginning at the ceiling, the basic features of the cornice design combines a cyma recta, a shadow-casting scotia inset, a plain bead near the base, and a narrow strip of cavetto molding. This same pattern also appears in all of the upstairs rooms that have a cornice. The only spaces that do not have a cornice are the family hallway, the room which now serves as a bathroom, and the linen closet.

Likewise, neither the tower room nor the third-floor room below the tower have cornices. The cornices throughout the house are painted white. The baseboard and base molding varies in detail between floors. All the rooms, closets, and hallways, however, have some form of trim. On the first floor the baseboard recesses slightly inward at the midpoint, creating a shadowed line parallel to the floor. The base molding above this consists of two parallel ridges similar to a scroll molding. Wherever the baseboard and base molding meet a mantel, the lower, heavier line of beading on the molding turns ninety degrees and follows the mantel edge to the floor.

The second floor and tower rooms have the same base molding, except that the baseboard of each level is plain, with the tower rooms having a slightly shorter board than those on the second floor. The baseboard and base molding in the library, smoking room, main hall, cross hall, and upper cross hall still have their original grain paint. The servants' stairwell, likewise, retains some of its original drab colored paint, as well as tongue-and-groove boards as the wall at the upper landing. The kitchen dependency also has lath and plaster walls over brick. Plasterboard replaces what would have been a lath and plaster ceiling. In the pantry in the main house, now converted to a kitchen, a metal stove-hole cover reveals where there was once a wood stove. The cover reads "Casting Co.

Birmingham Alabama," which may or may not have been the brand of the earlier stove. Remnants of stoves also appear in patched holes in walls above fireplaces in library and upstairs room over the parlor. 5. Openings: 92 This evaluation of the rooms' color-schemes is based on viewing poor photocopies of the and HABS photographs in comparison with photos belonging to the Hill family of the same period. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 45) a. Doorways and doors: All the interior doors have a wood threshold of the same shape (raised centers with shallow inward curves at either side) to prevent the doors from rubbing against the floor. Each door frame ends with a plinth.

Most of the doors, except for those where doorways were added, are original to the house, although many suffered severe damage from vandals. The doors are solid wood, which may or may not be oak under the various paint layers, and have two- over-two molded wood panels on both sides of the doors. Leonidas Walthall, Carlisle's brother- in-law building his own Italianate villa at the same time, vacillated between Upjohn's insistence that the first floor doors be made of an unnamed wood and his builder's preference for the fine locally grown oak. Carlisle had most of his doors made in New York and shipped to Marion.

Shipments of doors began arriving in July of and as of December Carlisle was still waiting impatiently for the final five boxes to arrive.93 The doorway surrounds, except for smaller closets, nearly all have inset-paneled jambs and paneled soffits. The depth and length of the paneled sections depends upon their location and the wall thickness. The direction the paneled sections of the doors face, whether into a hallway, corridor, or the room itself, depends upon the location and purpose of each door.

For example, on the first-floor cross hall the east and west doors into the library and dining room the paneled jambs appear in the cross hall, but the four subsidiary doors' do not, whereas on the second-floor cross hall all of the paneled jambs face into the cross hall, except for the entrance into the linen closet. The door height also determines whether or not the jamb has two or three panels. If the door itself has three panels or a transom above, the jamb also has three panels. All the door trim is simple, basically flat, wide, molded boards with the heaviest molding at the outer edge of the trim. The main doors on the first and second floors have slightly more elaborate molding, adding an extra ridge on the trim's flattest section.

Inside the servants' stairwell is an example of the simpler trim, the outside of the same door the more elaborate trim. The wood trim is grain-painted in the smoking room, library, main hall, and cross hall on the first and second floors. On the first floor there are two types of doors, double and single doors. The main hall has three sets of double doors. A pair of double three-paneled doors lead into the parlor and sitting room. The main door to the house is also a double door, but with two panels instead of three, as well as a thickly molded arched transom window and sidelights. The windows used to have stained glass, but this disappeared in the Unlike the other doors in the house, the front door has a raised panel within each panel.

The rest of the doors at this level are four-paneled single doors. The doors off the main and cross halls, at least the sides which face the halls, still have their grain-painted finishes, as do the inside of the library and smoking room doors. The closet door in the sewing room has been replaced with a curtain. 93 Walthall to Upjohn, 27 March, 19 April and 20 April Carlisle to R. Upjohn & Co., 22 July and 12 December ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 46) The second floor also has two basic types of doors, four-paneled doors much like those on the first floor, and four-paneled doors with transom windows above to improve ventilation and available light in otherwise dark spaces.

Overall the doors on the second are proportioned shorter to accommodate the lower ceiling height of twelve feet. All of the doors off the cross hall have transom hopper windows, as does the inside door of the linen closet area. The doors facing the cross hall all retain their grain-painted finish. Two other doors also retain their finish, the inside of the closet at the west end of the family hallway and the inside of the second floor cross hall door leading into the servants' stairwell. Three drab tones of paint accentuate the stairwell doors, the lightest tone for the panel insets, the darkest for the rails, stiles, and muntin, and a medium tone for the panel molding. One of the lighter two tones, or even a fourth, also covers the frame.

Inside the closet door two tones set apart the door parts, implying that the space was of even lesser visual importance that the stairwell. Vandals severely damaged many of the doors on the second floor. Whereas the first floor silver- plated doorknobs were all stolen or removed by previous owners early this century, the heavy mortise locks on the second floor remained until vandals cut some of them out in the literally sawing chunks out of the doors. Many other doors had their upper two panels broken out, especially in the family section of the house. The repairs to these doors include new mortise locks, plywood panels, and some replacement panel molding. Although the materials in the repairs are not as solid as the original, they are attempts to be sympathetic to the original.

The only two doors which are of a different form from the paneled versions found everywhere else in the house are the entrances to the basement and to the attic off the servants' stairwell. Both are beaded-board doors, with the boards running vertically. Two doors, likewise, were added to the structures since one in the main house and one in the kitchen dependency. A four-paneled door with simple board trim now connects the kitchen with the ironing and washroom, rooms that Carlisle definitely wanted separate.94 In the main house, the Hills opened a passage between the storage room and the pantry when they converted the pantry into a kitchen around There is no actual door nor molding and the 2' thick brick opening was only barely smoothed over.

The door trim just inside the kitchen door was probably added at the same time as the kitchen was installed. It is now plain board molding and does not match the other molding in the room nor any in the house. b. Windows: The molding around the windows differs from floor to floor, but corresponds to the door surrounds on each floor, including the frames ending with plinths. All of the windows are single hung and most have had their glass and workings replaced. On the first floor the full- arched windows, except in the sewing room and the main hall landing, have wood tracery filling in the spandrel. The same windows have molded panels on splayed jambs with wood panels 94 Carlisle to R.

Upjohn & Co., 3 July Carlisle wrote, in response to the floor plans that the "kitchen will answer except the wall between the kitchen and wash room solid no door nor closets but showing in kitchen." ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 47) below. On the second floor the window frames are also squared, but the elliptical arch does not provide enough space for decorative carving. The tower has twelve casement windows with wood sills and rectangular surrounds. The interior sections of the house, particularly the more enclosed hall spaces, would have been much darker when the stained glass windows remained on the stair landing and around the front door, aided only by the second floor transom light doors.

The removal of the verandah and walkway also intensified the light which entered the first floor from the north. In a real estate brochure described the stair landing window as "a decorative design of small squares and octagons, with flower petal design as the main motif, bordered with vine-and-leaf design." Skylights illuminate the elliptical stair hall, the linen storage area, the family corridor, and the second-floor dressing room/bathroom. One of the skylights on the roof offers light directly into the stairwell and part of the corridor, while the other skylight opens into the attic where two other windows on the attic floor filter light to the other spaces. The skylights and two round windows in the gable ends once provided most of the limited light into the attic.

The original glass in the skylights was likely similar to the "thick ribbed glass" that Walthall had installed in his skylights late in 6. Decorative features and trim: a. Arches: One of the most prominent defining features of the house is the pair of heavy-molded wood arches which span the 13' main hall. The arches are purely decorative, serving no structural purpose. At each end of the arches a cyma-reversa scroll-like console also appears to offer support. The first arch accentuates where the main hall meets the cross hall and the other frames the main stair. An inset panel design soffit echoes the ceiling molding above.

On the second floor the same arch design spans the upper part of the stair hall, only all of the features are made of plaster rather than wood and the triangle which appears on each side of the bracket has a flower motif. A smaller molded plaster arch, with all of the same characteristics of the larger plaster arch, frames the entrance to the southeast room on the second floor. Two other simple plaster arches appear in the second floor family corridor, one near the entrance to the family room, and the other just east of the tower bedroom. A chamfered edge defines each side of the arches. b.

Ceiling medallions: Carlisle ordered ten round ceiling medallions for his house, yet thirteen either leave traces or appear in various rooms, implying that the plaster carver may have heeded Carlisle's request that the carver send an extra or two from New York, in case one became damaged in transit. The medallions appear in two sizes, the larger ones for the larger rooms and the smaller ones, logically enough, for the smaller and less viewed rooms. Both have stylized acanthus leaves in repeat patterns around the center, five for the smaller and eight for the larger. After seeing his brother-in-law's medallions in place, Carlisle wrote to Upjohn with concern that 95 Walthall to R. Upjohn & Co., 13 December ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO.

AL-765 (page 48) his centerpieces be larger than those in Walthall's house, that the medallions there seemed dwarfed by expansive rooms. The spaces and rooms which have and had the large medallions include the parlor, sitting room, main hall, dining room, and center hall on both floors. The smaller medallions appeared in the library, family room, over the main stairwell, tower bedroom, octagon bedroom, and bedroom over the office. The parents' room over the parlor also had a medallion, which might have been a larger one, but there is no trace of it now to determine the size.

Several of the ceiling medallions fell or suffered damage when residents tried to install electricity through the gaselier openings or when water damage weakened the ceiling and could no longer support the extra plaster weight. Not all of the medallions had gaseliers, some were purely ornamental. The medallions no longer in place include those in the main hall, main stairwell, family room, and parent's bedroom. c. Mantels: One of the prides of the generations of Kenworthy Hall residents were the twelve Italian marble mantels, all in the Italianate style suited to the house.

The are no extant receipts to confirm that the mantels indeed came from Italy, as many local tour brochures and newspaper articles report, but they were ordered from New York and probably were some of the finest in the region. Walthall wanted carved marble mantels throughout his house, but was stunned at Upjohn's estimate for them.

After requesting more economical mantels, "as plain as the style will admit of," he wrote that "even at that they will be so much better that any in our village."96 Carlisle wanted to travel to New York City to see about choosing his mantels himself, "I want time to make such a selection of Mantels as will please me," he wrote, "and I may be in New York in time myself to see you on the subject." Time prohibited him from fulfilling this wish, so he put his faith in Upjohn's choices based on his preferences for simple styling.

The preliminary estimate for the cost of the mantels was with the parlor, sitting room and library fireplaces outfitted to burn coal instead of wood.97 When the house was vandalized in the and the mantels suffered serious damage, with several broken to pieces and others removed entirely. Determining which mantels are original to the house becomes a guessing game, because there are few photographs of the interior and few people who lived or visited there recall any more detail than that some were "white" and others "darker." In some instances pieces of the original mantels have been paired with mantels from other houses, the differing color of the marble or a more intricate design than Carlisle would have chosen giving them away.

Kay Klasson repaired and replaced most of the mantels, finding pieces as far away as Natchez, Mississippi, that she felt suited the house. Chunks of gray and pink marble remain piled in the basement under the stairs, survivors, most likely, of the pink smoking room mantel and one of the bedroom mantels, most of which were gray. 96 Walthall to R. Upjohn & Co., February 15 March and 19 April 97 Carlisle to R. Upjohn & Co., 27 November and 1 September ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 49) All of the fireplaces have hearths which are bordered on three sides with a narrow wood band framing a marble slab, usually of the same marble as the mantel.

Several of the slabs have now been painted and the one in the smoking room has been replaced with poured concrete. The black iron arched fireplace inset frames remain in the dining room, parlor, library, and tower bedroom, although the curved fronts and grates, visible in the photographs, are gone.(figure 13) All but one of the openings are sealed and painted either black or white, but could be opened again. The smoking room fireplace still functions, although it was rebuilt with brick and now has rectangular brass and glass enclosures. The mantel retains its pink marble shelf and the long narrow pilasters.

A granddaughter of the Carlisles particularly recalled this mantel because it was "of special admiration to the children, for it was of pink marble."98 The four finest mantels appeared on the first floor in the parlor, library, sitting room and dining room and are all remarkably still intact, (figure 14) The parlor, sitting room and library all share smooth white marble, with the library and parlor's mantels retaining a whiter finish. The two mantels also share an arched rope and coat-of-armor looking keys as their main decorative elements, although the key has been pried off of the parlor mantel and a chunk is missing from the middle of the mantel shelf.

The library's mantel shelf appears to be a replacement because it has grown discolored and does not extend as far to the sides as its parlor counterpart. The sitting room mantel features a shell pattern key and brackets at each end shaped as scrolls ending with a shell. A gray mantel shelf replaces the original. Kay Klasson was able to mend the brown white-streaked marble mantel in the dining room. Only close inspection reveals the jagged edges of once broken pieces. The gray mantel in the sewing room has also been repaired and appears to be original, especially in its styling and because its coloring is so compatible with the fragments of the rest of the gray mantels in the house.

The library, sewing room, smoking room, and dining room have all had gas heaters installed, with the units in front of or next to the hearths, and accessing the fireplaces' chimneys. On the second floor the mantels suffered more severe damage. The mantels in the bay window bedroom and parents' room are gone, except for a single strip of gray marble in the parents' room. The other mantel has been replaced with a wood one, painted white with gold trim, and which looks completely out of character with the rest of the mantels, parts of the gray mantel cling to wall behind. In the son's bedroom and the tower bedroom Kay Klasson replaced the mantel fronts with more ornate designs than Carlisle would have chosen, the white marble abundant with both fruits and foliage in the spandrel and keys.

The mantel shelves are also replacements, with traces of the gray marble remaining at the sides. Although the Italianate form and color of the family room mantel suits the ones in the rest of the house, an added perimeter of dark marble at the hearth and the loss of the baseboard molding which defines all the other mantels shows that the original has been replaced by a larger one. The guest room mantel, over the smoking room, also appears of consistent finish and compatible with the others original to the house, but some past residents say that they recall that this room also boasted pink marble. Pairo, "Kenworthy Hall." ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 50) In the kitchen dependency each room has its own fireplace, which share a chimney.

The kitchen has a large cooking fireplace and a varnished wood mantel shelf supported by wood brackets. The ironing and washroom has a smaller fireplace, also with a bracketed wood mantel shelf. 7. Architectural furniture: The library features two wood inset bookcases with two sets of arched double doors and a single-paneled door below each door. Each door has a long arched piece of glass; the pairs of doors close to form yet another arch, two arches to each case with tracery in the spandrels. A silver astragal on each pair of doors secures a tight fit. The shelving is also wood and has been replaced, as has the glass. The wood has been stained dark, like the floor and the main staircase, and contrasts the grain finish of the room's trim.

A "secret space" still remains behind the left bookcase, and can be accessed through the case's lower section. There used to be simple hardware as part of the door to this space, hinges and a spring latch, but this disappeared when the house was vandalized. Two tall narrow grain-painted closets frame the small corridor to the smoking room entrance. Both closets had locks, as did the inner and outer doors leading to the room, ensuring even greater security. The closet doors have two inset panels and are beveled to make a tighter closure. The doors retain some of their finish hardware, including silver-plated hinges, lock plates, and catches at the base of the doors.

Both sides of the doors are grain-painted and the original shelf floor is still in place, although all of the other shelves have been replaced. Traces of a closet remain on the west side of the storage room off the dining room, where a passage has now been opened between the storage room and pantry. Carlisle wrote that he wanted "the closet to run across store room. . .to be some 18 inches deep only," and that they did not want the closet "over six feet or seven feet high, so that the top of it in store room would be of use."99 Marks on the upper portion of the walls and a gap in the baseboard trim show that there had indeed been a closet built there to Carlisle's specifications.

At the top of the main stair second floor landing, the center transom door leads to a skylight-lit linen closet, which also has a transom door access from the south. Flanking the doors are two built-in linen cupboards. The top half of each cupboard has double doors, each with two panels which open to deep shelves. Below are two sets of two drawers. Carlisle had the various doors in this section of the second floor rearranged to provide more linen storage for the house.

Nearly all of the doors' fronts, shelves and drawers of the cupboards have been replaced with plywood, all except the left-hand doors of each cupboard, which mysteriously still have their solid wood panels and frames, and show the inside of the panels to have been beveled much like the closet nearby at the west end of the family corridor. The entire linen closet area is now freshly painted white. 99 Carlisle to R. Upjohn & Co., 3 July ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 51) In the second-floor tower bedroom the northern-most closet contains a four-drawer built-in chest. The drawers appear to have been spared the destruction of other storage areas, and retain their solid wood.

Closets in the library, sitting room and tower bedroom house shallow shelves, the closet doors serving to balance the arrangement of doors in the rooms perhaps more than offering storage space. The shelves themselves appear to be replacements and the spacing reflect current needs rather than earlier use. In a sense all of the closets were built-in architectural furniture, especially since few people built closets in the mid-nineteenth century, instead using large pieces of furniture, such as chests or armoires for general storage. When the bathroom was installed on the second floor near the large north-east bedroom, a built- in cupboard was added.

The cupboard is of a lesser quality than other built-in furniture in the house, so it was unlikely a part of the room in the past, even though the space was likely used as a dressing room and bathing space. Then again, if the cupboard was original to the room, the apparent lesser quality could be due to all the repairs, layers of paint, and changes to the room that it has sustained over the years. The bathroom cupboard shares many characteristics with the linen cupboards, such as height, the trim dividing the upper and lower sections, and the molded trim across the upper edges of each piece. The base molding could have simply been covered over when the bathroom floor was raised. The cupboard, painted white, stands just over 7', elevated with the floor to accommodate the plumbing below.

One large beveled paneled door, flanked by two narrow paneled strips accesses the upper section of the cupboard. The lower section consists of two horizontal drawers and a square door, with a single beveled panel, to reach the bathtub fixtures. Molding across the top of the cupboard extends to visually connect the bathtub with the cupboard unit. 8. Hardware: Throughout the house much of the hardware that was perceived to be of value was stolen, not only when the house was empty in the but as early as the turn of the century, when the house was already an object of curiosity and a doorknob made a perfect portable souvenir. Surprisingly, despite this plunder, a lot of hardware survives.

Carlisle paid for all of the hardware in the house, including nails, screws, and all items necessary for the doors, windows, and shutters. Carlisle's handwriting is indecipherable, but the hardware company in New York which supplied Upjohn and thus Carlisle appears to have been Day, Mull & Minan, or some variation thereof.100 Carlisle opted for plated hinges on the first floor for practical, economic reasons, "as they cost little more than those not plated." Most of these hinges are still on the doors and some on the library bookcases and smoking room cupboards, their tarnish perhaps protecting them from silver-snatching intruders. The surface is flat and unadorned, the pins like plain finials.

One of the original silver-plated door key escutcheons arrived one day by mail, anonymously, and now appears on the dining room door. All of the others have been replaced with aluminum reproductions of the same shape. The second-floor hinges, most of which have been painted 100 Carlisle to R. Upjohn & Co., [date]. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 52) over, are all of cast metal and bear the scripted name "F & C, Clarks Best Broad" Ten screws attach each hinge, five to a side.101 Rarer are any signs of original doorknobs and locks. When ordering his hardware, Carlisle specified, "Locks all the best mortise locks" to fit into his solid doors. As of the late one of the silver-plated doorknobs remained on the library closet door.

People who have lived in the house say that the knobs were simple, without any molded patterns on the surface. Most of the locks have been replaced in the last thirty years with brass mortise locks. Many of the silver- plated lock plates on the first floor and the metal lock plates on the second floor survive. Surprisingly many of the silver elements of the library bookcases still remain, including the astragal silver strips along the insides of each pair of doors, and all of the key plates, no more than long. The plates are rectangular and have round extensions at each end. The plates currently have modern round door pulls attached through the key opening, essentially disguising the key plates. Only about half of the small silver-plated hinges are still in place.

Shutter dogs remain outside on nearly all of the windows, both the upper and lower sets of dogs. Some of the companion hardware is still attached to the shutters, but it is difficult to get a close look at it stacked high in the carriage house. All of the tower windows have peg latches at the top and bottom of the casement windows. Other scattered remains of hardware include part of a latch on the front door, hooks at the top of some of the window trim for attaching window cornices, metal hooks in some of the closets, and pegs inserted into the walls for hanging heavy mirrors and pictures.

The parlor, for example, has flat metal bars about 4" long with upturned ends that would have supported the gold leaf cornices Lucy Jones Pairo, Carlisle's granddaughter recalled seeing there.102 Pieces of the metal closet hooks appear in every closet in the house, either on the back of the door or attached to the beaded-edged molding which circles the insides of the closets at eye level. The backplate has two sets of screws, one at the top and one at the bottom, with the plate rounding out at the top and bottom and around each screw. The hook itself projects from between each screw, the top in a "J" shape attached to an elongated "C" which adjoins the bottom set of screws. Many rooms had metal pegs imbedded into the walls in important locations, most likely when the house was constructed.

Both the second-floor tower bedroom and the parlor have them over the mantels (other rooms may have them too, but some are blocked to view), and the main hall has a pair each on the east and west walls, supporting Beverly Hill Furniss' recollection that visitors to the house in the used to say that the Carlisles had an abundance of mirrors in the dark hall. 9. Mechanical equipment: 101 The interior door hinges at Elm Bluff, located nearby in Alabama, are the same brand, only they have eight screws instead of ten attaching their butts to the door and j amb. 102 Pairo, "Kenworthy Hall": 2. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 53) a.

Heating, air conditioning, ventilation: The current owners benefit from many of the systems planned into the original design of the house for climate control. Thick brick walls, generous eaves, 14' and 12' tall ceilings, potentially open sweeping interior spaces, large windows on all sides of the house, and placement on a hill, all contribute to Kenworthy Hall's seasonal versatility and comfort. The house was initially designed to be heated by fireplace with wood and coal, the fuel hauled in and the fires maintained by the servants. Each of the twelve principle rooms had its own fireplace, which were sealed with iron covers in summer or when the rooms were not in use for prolonged periods.

Rooms and entire sections of the house could be closed off when not in use, particularly during the cooler winter months. Oral sources from every period of residence since the talk about how well the house functions, and that as daunting as the idea of heating and cooling the place has seemed to outsiders, those who have lived there have been amazed at how easily they can control the temperature. Apparently no alternative methods of heating were installed in most of the house until a few years after the Hill family moved in. The Hill sisters remembered how warm the house would be, even the large parlor heated with just the fireplace, and that the rooms retained their heat.

Several stoves had been installed, although all that remain of them today are the filled-in circular stove-pipe holes over the mantels in the library and in the southeast bedroom on the second floor. The pantry also had a stove. A HABS photograph shows an extended ventilation pipe coming through the roof and a pressed metal stove plate now covers the hole in the ceiling. When the house was lived in by many families in the several of the dressing rooms served as impromptu kitchens, with the installation of small cookers. The families also likely had space heaters. The Martins closed the fireplace openings and installed gas heaters in front of the fireplaces, some of which are more intrusive into the rooms than others.

Not all of the rooms have heaters in place, but a few rooms, such the sitting room, have hook-ups for future use if needed. All of the changes to the heating arrangements have been done carefully, such as removable fireplace enclosures. Because the changes always seem to have been made on a room-by-room basis, there were not sweeping alterations which altered the character of the house and which could not be undone by future residents. No source of heat appears to have been provided in the servants' room. Kenworthy Hall contains two air conditioner units, a window unit installed by the Martins in the dining room for use on only the crudest of hot and humid Alabama days. It takes up the lower section of the south window and has been sealed-in with plywood and caulk.

Nell Martin uses the other unit in her kitchen when she cans vegetables and fruit. The main source of "air conditioning" in the house and a byword of the house's construction, is "ventilation." When Carlisle requested Upjohn make changes to the house most of them were made in the cause of good air-flow. By opening doors and windows across the house in each direction the house generates cross breezes to ease the summer heat. Transom windows on the second floor, which Carlisle had to remind Upjohn needed to be openable, ensured that the privacy of family and guests were not sacrificed for the sake of air. The generous attic and window vents buffer the lower floors from the more intense heat and cold.

The stairwells, especially the spiral stair, seem ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 54) to channel the air up to the tower when the tower windows are open. Electric fans were installed in the attic gable windows, which literally pull air through the house with such force that you do not want to be wearing a flowing dress as you come down the main stairs. The heating and cooling systems in the kitchen building changed independently from those in the main house. The building has two fireplaces, the large one in the kitchen initially dedicated to cooking, and a smaller in the ironing and washroom to service other chores. The building has been used occasionally as a residence by tenants, servants, and even owners of the property.

A small black iron stove, vented through the roof, was installed sometime after the additional chimney does not appear in the HABS photographs. b. Lighting: When Kenworthy Hall was built the primary source of light was natural light, through the skylights, transoms, and large windows. To supplement this light Carlisle installed a gas generator attached to the well house for gas, provided in the form of wall-bracket burners and gaseliers. Most of the rooms had gas burners over the right side of the mantels. The son's room, parents' room, family room, daughter's room, and octagon bedroom all show a pipe or opening where the gas burner used to be attached.

Three cast metal wall brackets bearing the name Cornelius and Baker still exist in the smoking room, on the first floor of the servants' stairwell, and in the room above the smoking room. The first two are of a rounded design and the second one squared. The spiral stair has a lot of incidental wall damage, but two spots, one to the right of the door at the base of the stair and another just before the first turn, appear to have been the sites of gas burners as well. An opening for gas also remains in the second-floor servants' stairwell, right of the entrance to the family room. The Hills had two brass lighting devices removed from the stairwell and when they left the house in Hill took the fixtures with her. The fixtures are still in the Hill family.

For the most part, if a room had a gas light over the mantel if it did not have a gaselier. One exception seems to have been the daughter's room. The parents' room may have had a gaselier as well, but all traces of it have disappeared with the loss of the ceiling medallion. Stems in several of the ceiling medallions show that the parlor, library, sitting room, cross hall on second floor, and tower bedroom all had gaseliers. A few metal leaves cling to the parlor gas stem, hinting at its previous design. Lucy Jones Pairo offers a tantalizingly brief description of what must have been an elaborate lamp. "The chandelier with its five tiers of lights were lighted by gas," was all that she wrote.

Of the library gaselier, however, she revealed that "the bronze chandelier recalled the time of crusaders with its helmets, shields, and battle axes," and that the "cornices over the windows were in keeping with the chandelier." Although all visible traces of it are gone now, correspondence shows that the main hall also had a lighting fixture, most likely a gaselier. As a postscript to a note, Carlisle wrote, "in main hall to house, a lamp or chandelier leave that to you."103 Gas fixtures also appeared in at least one other building in the property, the carriage house. Mr. Martin has dug up pipes in the yard which ran from the well house to the Pairo, "Kenworthy Hall": 2; Carlisle to Upjohn, 19 July ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO.

AL-765 (page 55) carriage house. A hole in the wall, about six feet from the ground to the right of the entrance shows where gas lighting would have been installed in the building. Most of the lighting in the house today consist of free-standing electric lamps and a few interior and three exterior wall lights. c. Plumbing: The house had limited indoor plumbing installed by the Tucker family, who owned Kenworthy Hall from They installed hot and cold running water in the converted pantry and created the second-floor bathroom out of the dressing room.

A real estate brochure, produced when the Tuckers were selling the property, announced that the water was drawn from the nearest well and that it was "pump driven by gasoline motor and pressure tank."104 The Hills added a half-bathroom, "powder room," in the closet at the base of the spiral stairs. Robert Hill recalled facilities on other parts of the property as well, including an outhouse located next to the nearest tenant farmhouse, near the present site of the barn. Beverly Furniss said that if there had been an outhouse closer to the house, her parents would have torn it down as soon as more indoor plumbing had been installed. The Martins put in the bathroom in the first-floor sewing room. The Carlisles paid close attention to having many water sources available.

Within a short distance of the house are three wells, one near the tenant house that Mr. Martin excavated recently, the main well house, and a spring at the bottom of the hill near the Marion to Greensboro Road, which now provides the household water. An intricate system of roof gutters and drains once fed the cavernous domed brick cistern. In his correspondence with Upjohn, Carlisle complained that Upjohn has not yet sent the stones for the cistern nor the cesspool, but where this cesspool eventually was located is unclear and no longer evident.105 d. Electric: Electricity for lighting was introduced to the house after and more convenience outlets were added between Most of the rooms have damage from where the lines were sunk into the walls. e.

Gas: The early lighting systems in the house were of gas generated on site. The gas tank was attached to the well house 40' north of the main house. A real estate brochure from shows a photograph of the north yard of Kenworthy Hall, which incidentally reveals the gas tank. The tank was at least 10' long and 3' in diameter and held in place with rounded concrete footings, one of which still remains near the well. The Martins heat with propane gas, drawn from an above-ground tank located between the house and the kitchen dependency, convenient for refueling. (For a description of the remains of the gas lighting, please see For the location of current gas heaters in the house, please see 9.a.) 104 The Jemison Companies, Real Estate Brochure.

105 Furniss, telephone conversation with the author, 21 June Heber Martin, interview with the author, 6 June Carlisle to R. Upjohn & Co., 2 September ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 56) f. Bell systems: The front door has a brass doorbell plaque to the right, with E. K. CARLISLE engraved lengthwise. The knob which sounded the bell is gone, leaving a square hole where its stem would have been. The Martins have installed a newer system with a doorbell button at the west entrance connected to a domed bell under the main staircase. One interior servant call-bell remains in the second-floor tower bedroom, to the right of the fireplace. It is of cast metal, flat and circular with scalloped edges, and is damaged from people trying to pry it off the wall.

It appears to have had a handle which has been broken off. The bell connected to a bellboard on the back verandah, over the outside of the exterior entrance to the storage room where a row of graduated bells called from specific locations by their sound. All of the bells were already gone by the time of the HABS photos, but the beaded-edged board and the location of the bells on the board remain. 10. Original Furnishings: Kenworthy Hall does not retain any of its original furnishings, but descendants retain some of the portraits and furniture and a few documents record some of other furnishings.

Descendants of the Augusta Carlisle Jones currently have bedsteads, a commode, chairs from the library, a piano leg table, gilt mirrors, portraits, and silver.(figure 15) The walnut library chairs (the family currently has two, one with and one without arms) feature carved backs, seat frames, and legs. Carved dolphins, which look like Chinese decorative carp, flank a shield at the top of the chair back, the shield echoing the mantel key in the library, (figures Fabric "that shade of green once known as library green" once covered them. Most of the remaining furnishings are with family members in Birmingham and Atlanta, Georgia.

Portraits of Lucy Walthall Carlisle and Edward Kenworthy Carlisle are currently owned by the Sturtivant Hall museum in Selma, donated to them by a descendant of Edward Kenworthy Carlisle, Lucy Jones Pairo provides the most detailed account of the house's interior. Some of her descriptions are prone to exaggeration, such as claiming that the first-floor ceilings were 18' high, but others ring true. The entrance hall, she says, "was furnished with two hand carved sofas upholstered in black hair cloth.

On either side of these sofas were four oak arm chairs." The parlor contained "a velvet carpet" and was furnished with "carved rosewood furniture upholstered in blue and gold damask." Gold leaf accentuated the large mirror over the mantel and gold leaf cornices which "held lace curtains in place." In the library, in addition to the chairs and lighting fixtures described above, "on either side [of the mantel] hung portraits of the master and mistress," and "two large red Sevres vases stood on each side of the mantelpiece." The Carlisle family laid woven carpets and oilcloths wall to wall in most of the rooms, as evidenced by a receipt which survives for carpets ordered from A. T.

Stewart & Co., a department store in 106 Another pari of portraits of Lucy and Edward Kenworthy Carlisle is also with a descendant [Eiland] in Atlanta, Georgia. Sturtivant Hall also has portraits of Edward Kenworthy Carlisle, Jr. and his wife Florence. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 57) New York City. The finest two rooms received velvet and Brussels carpets, and all the others three-ply and two-ply ingrains, and oilcloth.107 D. Site: 1.

Historic landscape design: Many of the changes in the landscape around Kenworthy Hall reflect the wider trends happening throughout the South and Perry County, with the booms and busts of different crops and the economy determining if the acreage was going to be under cultivation or left to overgrow with shrubs and trees. Only feint traces remain of the landscape E. K. Carlisle must have planted and envisioned around his Italianate villa. His choice of site, with views from the tower stretching toward Marion and beyond, ensured a position of prominence whether or not the immediate grounds around the villa received sculpted treatment. The attention that Carlisle lavished upon the plans and building of his villa, however, hints that equal attention shaped the grounds.

A proper gentleman's home, for himself and for his family, would not have been complete if only the house and its interior reflected his position. Just as Carlisle absorbed the messages of the Picturesque movement in his house design, the land itself and individuals' recollections reveal that he also paid close attention to advocates of landscape gardening. To date no documentary evidence reveals Carlisle's explicit intentions for Kenworthy Hall's landscape.

His only reference to the landscape appeared in his introductory letter to Richard Upjohn, where he stated simply that "the house will front north upon an open lawn." Yet the tangible evidence which remains show that the grounds were a compromise between conscious efforts to shape nature for pleasure and attention to the more practical needs of the plantation. The landscape shows divisions between the pleasant places to wander and survey the scenery, and those aspects of the grounds which offered immediate support to the house and which generated the plantation's income.

The concentration of terraces,108 paths, and decorative plantings appear mostly to the south and east of the villa, while the work areas are signaled by the northern edge of the house, the kitchen dependency, and the remains of other small buildings which were once for servant use. From the tower it is nearly impossible to see the grounds immediately behind the house, unless one climbs out of one of the north windows and explores the roof edge. In the tower the gaze is deflected away from the service areas near the house outward towards the barns and fields, where any view of labor may have taken on the appearance 107 E. K. Carlisle Papers, Box 19, Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama.

108 Individuals reference from three to five terraces, either of which could be accurate, depending upon which part of the slope that one looks at today. Roadwork along the Marion to Greensboro Road and general erosion could also have diminished some of the terracing. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 58) of a pastoral landscape painting. Several oral sources say that Carlisle also had a horse racetrack behind the house, but no documents nor material evidence support the claim.

Lucy Jones Pairo, a granddaughter of Carlisle born in the house in left some of the most visual recollections of the house and grounds, likely written in the late Although some of the details of her specific recollections about the interior are incorrect, one can sense her exploring the grounds as a young girl, when the family summered at Kenworthy Hall. Wherever leveling or terracing of the grounds appears now, it seems was once a stretch of lawn or a formal garden. Significantly, Pairo recalls a circular drive from the Marion to Greensboro Road to the house, a hint of which appeared in the Upjohn watercolor elevation just in front of the portico.

To the east of the house, now mostly wooded, an old roadbed cuts across the ground and is used by the cattle as a path of least resistance up and down the hill. Part of this current path is likely the remains of the steep drive. Pairo wrote: There are broad terraces in front of the house, and two drives each in the form of a half circle, led to the front or big gate as it was then called. To the east of the house was the sunken Italian garden, the steps leading to the first terrace being covered by a trellis or arbor, over which grew white roses beautiful when in bloom. On this first terrace there were many blooming shrubs such a crepe myrtle, cape jasmine, etc.

On the last or bottom terrace was the formal garden, each bed being bordered with dwarf boxwood inside of which were wide borders of daffodils and narcissus, beautiful bush roses were planted in these beds, also flowering plants. A Scotch gardener had full charge of all work done in the gardens, both fruit, flower and vegetable, his wife superintended the dairy and poultry. Pairo's childhood imagination seemed to have been enchanted with the idea of her family's home as an ante-bellum pleasure-ground capable of sustaining large numbers of people in Alabama's "time of plenty," in contrast to the postwar period of cultural change and deprivation.

Regardless of how romantic a tone her memories take, it is evident that the grounds sustained an abundance of cultivated plants for practical use, each in a designated area: The gardens and orchards seemed large enough for a hotel, but those were times of plenty for all, both master and servant. There were three large scuppernong arbors which furnished grapes for the table and for making domestic wine. Many herbs both for flavoring, and medicinal purposes were planted along the garden fence, such as sage, mint, horehound, tansy and the despised boneset, whose bitter extract was given for all chills and fevers.

From the flower garden a walk led down the hill to the fish pond, which was fed by springs, and which was stocked with bass, perch, and all such fish as thrived in that locality, so that on all occasions there was fresh fish for the table. The house and grounds also attracted students from Judson College, whose faculty organized special outings to explore the site. It may have been a matter of the same story passed on through years of teaching, but two accounts written by students, one in and the other in ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 59) recall an old lake bed.

After their wagons unloaded them on top of the hill, they "strolled through the grove," wrote Asenath Smith in and "down the little overgrown pathway to the place where there was once an artificial lake." Their walk would have taken them beyond the spring and fishpond that Pairo remembered and which still exists today next to the main road. In another group of young women, this time walking from Marion, tromped through what they also identified as a dried-up lake.

"We climbed from the dry old bed of the lake to the crest of the hill where the noble old ante-bellum house stands." Once at the top they looked back over their path, toward the east "was the forest through which we had come, and hidden by the trees the bed of the lake, with one island still standing high above the basin." (figure 18) If indeed there was a lake, signs of it may have been obliterated by the widening of the Marion to Greensboro Road. The aerial photograph shows the evolution of the road from one which wound more carelessly through the landscape to one which takes a more direct route. For about half a mile east of Kenworthy Hall's entrance, the road used to dip south in the location the Judson students declared was a lake bed.

The road made a similar bend north, west of the main entrance.

From the crest of Kenworthy Hall's hill the students looked south and observed the clear remains of terraces; "the hill fell away by five terraces which formed almost a semi-circle about us." They found evidence of what may or may not have been elements of the original garden plan, noting that "the low box-hedge still gives the outline of the garden, all is level and prim; but no flowers are to be found there now." The massive trees impressed both sets of young women, the first group taking their dinner "under the great oaks" and the second noting the "beautiful view of misty hills; the bare elms and oaks etched against the sky and lend a purplish tint to the trees about them." Robert Hill experienced the landscape around Kenworthy Hall as a boy in the exploring the chicken yard behind the house as readily as the muddy creek beds.

A large percentage of the farm was planted in cotton during this period, and the cotton field directly behind the house, where the Martins now have their large garden, was also planted in cotton. The Hills kept a separate section of the grounds fenced-off as their vegetable garden, northeast of the house yet in line with the row of outbuildings directly behind the kitchen dependency. Several trees from an old peach orchard, fanning out northward from the garden, still bore "some of the most delicious fruit" Robert Hill ever recalled eating. These trees may mark where the Carlisle's grew much of their fruit and indeed have been some of the earlier trees.

At least two of the tenant houses on the 300 acres also had fenced-in gardens separate from the fields and in close proximity to the houses. Another of Robert Hill's recollections explains the discrepancy between the location of the main drive in the past versus its location today. The main entrance to Kenworthy Hall at this time already veered to the left, then looped around from the house past the west side of the outbuildings and reconnected again to the entrance drive about halfway back to the road, although the aerial photograph does not show this secondary loop clearly enough to confirm its existence at this time. A comparison of the aerial photograph of the grounds to the ground ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO.

AL-765 (page 60) plan today shows that the entrance off the main road seems to have shifted significantly to the west. This may have been the result of no longer trying to use both sides of the drive, as well as a mudslide that Robert Hill recalled when he was a child, when the excessively steep slope simply gave way and completely blocked the entrance. During his tenure was also when the Works Progress Administration (WPA) crews "came with tractors and bulldozers to dig contour trenches laterally across the fields" to prevent erosion. Some of these furrows still form definite ridges in the land east and west of the house. The aerial photo reveals that all of the land west of Marion had far fewer trees in the than it has today.

Much of the land was under the cultivation of tenant farmers, with at least four families on the Kenworthy land when the Hills owned it. When the Hills purchased the property 180 acres were under cultivation, 70 acres were in pasture, and the balance was wooded.109 Today the old estate has proportionately far fewer trees than most of the surrounding land. Continued lumbering by the Belcher Lumber Company, who have owned most of the properly since keeps the land largely stripped of trees except in the more difficult to reach creek bed areas east of the villa. Heber and Nell Martin keep much of the nineteen acres of their land under cultivation for personal use and another part as open pasture.

About one-third remains covered with trees, mostly along the southern edge of the property, along the road. They raise corn, sugar cane, peanuts, and a variety of other vegetables, as well as maintain some fruit trees and berries. Nell Martin keeps flowering plants throughout the yard, but tends a more formal assortment of roses and other flowers on the east side of the house. Large magnolia trees shade all sides of the yard. The trees dropping their leaves is a cause of constant consternation to the Martins, who pride themselves on being able to keep all aspects of their home in good order. 2.

Outbuildings: Only two of the original outbuildings remain on the grounds of Kenworthy Hall, what is commonly known as the carriage house and the latticed well house, (figure 19) Several outbuildings which also may have been a part of the original plantation complex appear in photographs. The exact use of some of the buildings which remain and those which were once scattered across the property has become clouded through subsequential alternative use. Exactly how many buildings once surrounded Kenworthy Hall would require more documentary evidence and in-depth exploration of the grounds. The original purpose of the carriage house, as it is identified for the purposes of this study and because of present common knowledge, is debatable.

The HABS documentation calls the building a smokehouse, Robert Hill identifies it as a wagon shed, and everyone else seems to call it a carriage house. Heber Martin uses it as a storage shed and general workshop for maintaining his tractor and farm tools. Lucy Jones Pairo reminisced that the "stables and carriage houses were large enough to take care of not [only] the horses and carriages of the family but [of] 109 The Jemison Companies, Real Estate Brochure. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 61) visitors also." The building could have housed one or two carriages, but not in addition to those of guests. If there were additional buildings which served as carriage houses, all traces of them are gone.

The building stands convenient to the kitchen dependency and in line with where other utilitarian buildings, since demolished, used to be located. The wood brace-frame building is raised on brick piers, has an asphalt-shingled, pyramidal hip-roof, narrow clapboard siding, and overhanging eaves on all sides. That the structure seems to mimic the long walls and hipped- roof of the tower is purely coincidental, because the building form was widely used across the south for many plantation outbuildings.110 The present opening once extended nearly two-thirds up the left half of the building's north side. The opening itself was lowered by a third sometime after when the Hills took a photograph of it ca.

In the photograph there seems to have been some kind of a slightly projecting wood awning over the entrance. A trace of light- colored paint survives under the eaves, also visible in the photograph. The present dark color of the clapboard siding comes from weathering and Heber Martin treating it with motor oil. On the inside an open-roof structure exposes the hip-rafter system. The west half of the interior is open to the ground, essentially creating a dirt floor, while the other half is covered with a wood platform. Evidence that floor joists used to extend all the way across the building appears at the base of the west wall, where openings were cut into the basal timber for the joist ends.

These openings point to the use of the building as a smoke house, except that there do not appear to be traces of smoke on any of the walls or in the eaves. A general shortage of food supplies during and after the war could have meant that the building was never put to the use for which it was originally constructed, at least not enough to leave tangible signs of it one-hundred and forty years later. The well house is located 50' north of the house and 35' east of the kitchen dependency. An asphalt low-pitched gabled roof replaces one that had wood shingles and a moderate pitch. The entire roof system has been replaced, although it appears that all of the structural supports, beams, and even most of the now dilapidated lattice-work, are original to the structure.

The well house has openings in all four directions. The outer edges of the "floor" appear slightly raised in one of the real estate brochure photographs, although today the elevated portion seems to have been submerged behind decades of vegetation. The brownstone threshold on the south side already showed a dip of wear in the photograph. What appears to be the original masonry fans out from the circular well. At the north opening, rounded-concrete supports remain from the gas-generating tank, which depended upon the well water to help create Kenworthy Hall's gas lighting. The well's water level dropped several years ago, but Nell Martin uses the space for potting and tending plants. 1,0 Vlach, Back of the Big House. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO.

AL-765 (page 62) When the Jemison Companies advertised the house and 300 acres, they announced that the property also included "one 4-room, two 3-room and two-2-room houses on the place, all of the Negro cabin type, and are in serviceable condition. A barn about 32 x 42, smoke house, corn crib, cotton house and shed now used as a garage." The tenant houses were scattered all over the property, a few accessed through the main drive to Kenworthy Hall and others off of the Marion to Greensboro Road. The aerial photograph geographically locates the houses, but the makes solid identification of roof shape and size nearly impossible. Fortunately one of the houses, located between the villa and the old barn, was photographed incidentally in the background of other buildings' photographs.

The single-story wood building had a metal gable roof, and a dropped secondary roof for the porch off the east and for the rear frame shed room on the west side of the building, which may or may not have constituted a "third room." The porch shades the entrance, but it appears to have been a single pen house. One of the posts from the covered walkway blocks a clear view of the chimney, although there appears to have been one on the north-gable wall, with a single window on the south-gable wall.1" A privy and a well, recently reopened by Heber Martin, were part of this tenant house complex and located between the house and barn. The two-story wood transverse barn's gable ends ran north-south.

Comparing the barn to one from Tuscaloosa County pictured in Alabama Folk Houses, the barn would have been exceptionally large, perhaps having as many as ten to twelve cribs. In when the building was recorded by HABS, some of the horizontal wood siding was already missing, leaving gaps in the walls. The Hills kept pigs, mules, and milk cows in the barn and in an adjacent fenced-in area north of the structure.112 Of the other three buildings that Robert Hill recalls behind the kitchen dependency, only two appear in pictures. The tool shed and cotton bin, as Hill remembers them, stood east of the carriage house on ground now under cultivation by the Martins. Each was painted white and had a moderately pitched, wood-shingle gable roof, facing east-west.

The shed was of board-and- batten siding with an entrance on the west, raised on low piers (unable to see the pier's construction material). The clapboard-sided cotton bin stood on much higher brick piers and had an entrance from the south easily accessed from the rear of the kitchen dependency. This building could have served any number of purposes prior to its use as a cotton bin. The chicken house, furthest to the east in the row of outbuildings, does not appear in any of the photographs. The Martins have constructed several buildings since for their own use, all near the previous site of the tenant cabin which was closest to the main house. These buildings include a barn, a chicken coop, and a now abandoned pig pen attached to the chicken coop. Heber Martin '" Eugene M.

Wilson, A Guide to Rural Houses of Alabama Montgomery, Alabama: Alabama Historical Commission, 3. 112 Eugene M. Wilson, Alabama Folk Houses (Montgomery, Alabama: Alabama Historical Commission, ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 63) salvaged many of the materials that he used in constructing the buildings from the tenant cabin, which was dilapidated when they purchased the property. The barn is of a type found in other sections of Alabama and is a form familiar to Heber Martin from his youth. It has a central two- level metal gable roof section, open below and enclosed above, and gently sloped one-story wings on either side, the north open, the south enclosed. Vertical boards cover most of the walls, metal sheets the others.

The chicken coop has a shed roof, sloping southwestward, and is sided with horizontal boards and metal sheets. PART III. SOT IRCFS OF INFORMATION A. Architectural Drawings: Architect's watercolor rendering of Kenworthy Hall. ca. In possession of Robert To see a quality black and white reproduction of this watercolor see Robert Gamble's The Alabama Catalog: A Guide to the Early Architecture of the State. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, (see figure 5) B. Early Views: Photographs of Kenworthy Hall, HABS No. AL-765, Historic American Buildings Survey Collection, Washington Photograph of Kenworthy Hall, ca. See "After the Exams. Are Over--." The Conversationalist. Judson College, Alabama: The Conversationalist Club, 31. Photographs of Kenworthy Hall, ca.

From the collection of Robert E. Hill, Richmond, Virginia. Photographs of Kenworthy Hall, ca. From the Collection of Vera Holcombe, Marion, Alabama. Aerial photograph of Marion, Alabama and vicinity, 24 June RG 145 ~ Can # Exp Cartographic and Architectural Branch. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D. C. Picture postcard of "Carlisle Hall," ca. Box 3, Photograph Collection (Postcards), Perry County, Alabama-Marion, Alabama. Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama. Drawing of Kenworthy Hall and grounds, ca. Drawn by Robert E. Hill, July ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 64) C. Interviews and Correspondence: All of the interviews and correspondence are with the author. Idella Childs.

Interview, 16 July Marion, Alabama. Evans Dunn (Josephine). Telephone interview, 16 July Birmingham, Alabama. Bob Telephone interview, 15 July Birmingham, Alabama. John Furniss (Beverly Hill). Telephone interview, 21 June Spanish Fort, Alabama. Vera Holcombe. Interviews, 12 June July Rt. 2, Box 9C, Co. Rd. 45 South, Marion, Alabama. Robert E. Hill. Correspondence, 15 July 20 July Richmond, Virginia. Mary Willis Hopkins. Telephone interview, 28 July Marion, Alabama. Carlisle Jones. Telephone interview, 10 July Birmingham, Alabama. Nell and Heber Martin. Interviews, 6 June 11 June and 30 August Marion, Alabama. Daniel Rex (Mary Emory Hill). Telephone interview, 18 July Palestine, Texas. Robert Walthall. Interview, 13 June Newbern, Alabama. D.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS ALA,53-MARI.V,5-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

a. Newspaper articles113: "Carlisle or Kenworthy Hall." The Marion Times-Standard f28 April Mattie U. Wallace. "Nearly 800 Guests Visit Holiday House." The Marion Times-Standard (20 December "Carlisle Hall, minus its ghost, minus its pillars, retains romantic charm." The Birmingham News (18 May ElmaBell. 113 There are several more of these that have vague titles and no citations, gathered from people's scrapbooks. I find them interesting for the perpetuation of misinformation, and also because sometimes they offer some good insights and tidbits of information not available other places, like when a past resident returned to the house as a special guest of a larger function. If the article has an author, I list it at the end of the citation.

ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 65) "History still haunts old Carlisle Hall." Selma Times Journal (15 August Jane Jouret. Martin clippings file. "Carlisle Hall is fabled in Alabama folklore, history." Selma Times-Journal (23 March Jean Martin. "Carlisle Home Portrays Early History." Perpetual Harvest Evelyn Bridges Lyles. "Marion in the spring: Residents say this is the perfect time to get to know one of Alabama's hidden antebellum treasures." The Birmingham News (18 April Frank Sikora. "Marion's Carlisle House." AFC Farming News (June "Study to focus on antebellum Marion mansion." Montgomery Advertiser (28 May Alvin Berin.

"National Park Service to Document Carlisle Hall." The Marion Times-Standard (2 July "Marion's Carlisle Hall, Prattville's Pratt gin factory subjects of study." The Birmingham News (10 August ElmaBell. "Architectural research on Carlisle Hall complete, reception held for team." The Marion Times- Standard (27 August b. Primary and unpublished sources: Official records: Land Records (deeds and mortgages). Perry County Probate Office. Perry County Courthouse, Marion, Alabama. Dallas County Probate Office, Dallas County Courthouse, Selma, Alabama. Wills and Estate Papers. Perry County Probate Office. Perry County Courthouse, Marion, Alabama. U.S. Census. Census of Population, Slave Schedule, Census of Agriculture, William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library.

University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.114 1,4 Not all repositories had complete sets of census data and some of it was so scratched as to be unreadable. Edward Kenworthy Carlisle beat was Western Marion, which seems to have been left out ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 66) Miscellaneous primary sources: "After the Exams. Are Over--." The Conversationalist. Judson College, Alabama: The Conversationalist Club, Allen, John Grey. Allen Family Papers. Folder 2. E. K. Carlisle William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library. The University of Alabama. Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Amnesty and Pardon Ledger. SG Vol Edward K. Carlisle. Alabama Department of Archives and History. Montgomery, Alabama. Berney, Saffold.

Handbook of Alabama: A Complete Index to the State, with Map. Reprint. Spartanburg, South Carolina: The Reprint Company, Brewer, Willis. Alabama: Her History. Resources. War Record and Public Men, from Reprint. Spartanburg, South Carolina: The Reprint Company, Carlisle. E. K. Carlisle Papers. Unprocessed Manuscripts, Box 19. Alabama Department of Archives and History. Montgomery, Alabama. Carlisle Family. Miscellaneous Papers. Unnumbered typescript (22 pages). From the files of Nell and Heber Martin. Marion, Alabama. Carlisle and Humphries. Business Ledgers, Manuscripts I, Cabinet VI #6 and Alabama Department of Archives and History. Montgomery, Alabama. Carlisle, Jones & Co. Business Ledgers, Manuscripts I, Cabinet VI #5 - #9. Alabama Department of Archives and History.

Montgomery, Alabama. Carlisle Letters to Richard Upjohn. Special Collections, New York Public Library (Copies were provided courtesy of Robert Gamble, Alabama Historical Commission). Downing, Andrew Jackson. The Architecture of Country Houses. Reprint. New York: Dover Publications, Landscape Gardening and Rural Architecture. Reprint. New York: Dover Publications, entirely from the agricultural schedule of because while Carlisle appears in the Slave Schedule, he does not appear in the agricultural schedule. ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 67) . Victorian Cottage Residences. Reprint. New York: Dover Publications, England, Flora D., editor and comp. Dallas County. Alabama Genealogical Records. Vol. III.

Selma, Alabama: The Sturdivant Museum Association, Hill, Robert E. "Childhood Impressions of Carlisle Hall." Unpublished Manuscript. July, Typescript. Holly, Henry Hudson. Country Seats: Containing Lithographic Designs for Cottages. Villas. Mansions, etc.. with Their Accompanying Outbuildings. [Reprint?] New York: D. Appleton & Company, Jemison, Robert Jr. Letterbook. Jemison Collection. William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library. The University of Alabama. Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Kirksey, Foster Mark. The Kirksey Collection. Box File 52. William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library. The University of Alabama. Tuscaloosa, Alabama. "Map of the Jones Addition, North-west Selma, Probate and Tax Assessors Office, Dallas County Courthouse. Selma, Alabama.

Mobile Directory: Embracing the Names of Heads of Families. Occupations. Addresses and Persons in Business. Mobile, Alabama, Pairo, Lucy Jones. "Kenworthy Hall." No date. Hill Ferguson Collection. Department of Archives and Manuscripts. Linn-Henley Research Library. Birmingham, Alabama. Typescript. "Perspective of Selma, Alabama, County Seat of Dallas County, Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Henry Wellge & Co., Picture Book of Authentic Mid-Victorian Gas Lighting Fixtures. Mitchell, Vance & Co. Catalog, ca. Reprint. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., Skinner, J. Jones Family Papers, William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library. The University of Alabama. Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Sloan, Samuel. Sloan's Victorian Buildings: Illustrations of and Floor Plans for 56 Residences & Other Structures.

Reprint of edition nublished under the title The Model Architect. New York: Dover Publications, ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 68) Smith, Asenath. "The R. O. F. Picnic." The Conversationalist. Judson College, Alabama: The Conversationalist Club, Townes, Samuel A. The History of Marion. Alabama. Reprint. Birmingham, Alabama: A. H. Cather Publishing Company, Walthall Correspondence. Special Collections, New York Public Library (copies were provided courtesy of Robert Gamble, Alabama Historical Commission). Walthall Family Tree. From the Collection of Robert Walthall. Newbern, Alabama, ca. Windham, Kathryn Tucker. 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jefferv. [location]: The Strode Publishers, c. Secondary Sources Abernathy, Thomas Perkins.

The Formative Period in Alabama History. Reprint. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press, Amos, Harriet E. Cotton City: Urban Development in Antebellum Mobile. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, "Ante-Bellum Marion: Cultural Center of the Plantation South." City of Marion, Alabama, ca. Ayers, Edward L. Southern Crossing: A History of the American South. Oxford: Oxford University Press, "The Case for Preservation: The Jemison-Van de Graff Mansion." Booklet. No date. Childs, Idella J. "Lincoln Normal School." Marion, Alabama: Self-published pamphlet, ca. Clark, Clifford Edward Jr. The American Family Home. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, Dodd, Donald B. Historical Statistics of the States of the United States: Two Centuries of the Census.

Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, . Historical Atlas of Alabama. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 69) Federal Writers' Project. Alabama: A Guide to the Deep South. American Guide Series. New York: Richard R. Smith, Ferguson, Eugene S. "An Historical Sketch of Central Heating: In Building Early America: Contributions toward the History of a Great Industry. Radnor, Pennsylvania: Chilton Book Company, Fitts III, Alston. Selma: Queen Citv of the Blackbelt. Selma, Alabama: Clairmont Press, Gamble, Robert. The Alabama Catalog: A Guide to the Early Architecture of the State. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, Gill, Brendan.

"Kingscote: Architectural Heritage of an Original Newport Cottage." Architectural Digest (October Hamlin, Talbot. Greek Revival Architecture in America. London: Oxford University Press, Harris, Cyril M. Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. New York: McGraw Hill, Harris, W. Stuart. " A Short History of Marion, Perry County, Alabama: Its Hopes and Its Buildings." Marion, Alabama, Historic America: Buildings. Structures, and Sites. Edited by C. Ford Peatross. Washington: Library of Congress, Hull, Judith S. "The'School of Upjohn': Richard Upjohn's Office." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians Vol. 52: 3(September Jackson, Harvey H. III. Rivers of History: Life on the Coosa. Tallapoosa. Cahaba. and Alabama.

Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press, Jackson, Walter M. The Storv of Selma. Birmingham, Alabama: Birmingham Printing Company, Jordan, Weymouth T. Antebellum Alabama: Town and Country. Reprint. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press, Kirby, Jack Temple. Rural Worlds Lost: The American South. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 70) Knudsen, Marshall Scharland. "Marion as Ante-bellum Cultural Center." Paper presented at the Alabama Historical Association Annual Meeting, . "The Marion Female Seminary." Unpublished manuscript. Lane, Mills. Architecture of the Old South: Greek Revival & Romantic. Savannah, Georgia: . Architecture of the Old South.

New York: Abbeville Press Publishers, London, Mark. Masonry: How to Care for Old and Historic Brick and Stone. Respectful Rehabilitation Series. Washington, The Preservation Press, Lovelace, W. H. "History of Marion." Marion Times Standard (6 November McAlester, Virginia and Lee. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Mansell, Jeff. Perry County. Alabama: An Inventory of Significant and Historic Structures. Brierfield, Alabama: Cahaba Trace Commission, Mellown, Robert C. "The Jemison Mansion and Longwood: An Architectural History of Two Antebellum Italianate Villas." Alabama Heritage No. 26(Fall Myers, Denys Peter. Gaslighting in America: A Pictorial Survey. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., Owen, Thomas MacAdory.

History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography. Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, Phillips, Steven J. Old House Dictionary: An Illustrated Guide to American Domestic Architecture. to Washington, The Preservation Press: Pierson, William H. Jr. American Buildings and Their Architects: Technology and the Picturesque. The Corporate and the Earlv Gothic Styles. Garden City, New York: Anchor Books, "Richard Upjohn and the American Rundbogenstil." Winterthur Portfolio Vol. (Winter Placzek, Adolf K., ed. Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects. New York: The Free Press, ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 71) Rogers, William Warren, et al. Alabama: The History of a Deep South State. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, Schuyler, David.

Apostle of Taste: Andrew Jackson Downing. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, Stanton, Phoebe B. "Richard Upjohn." Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects. Adolf K. Placzek, ed. New York: The Free Press, Steege, Gwen W. "The Book of Plans and the Early Romanesque Revival in the United State: A Study in Architectural Patronage." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 16(September Upjohn, EverardM. Richard Upiohn: Architect and Churchman. New York: Columbia University Press, Vlach, John Michael. Back of the Big House: The Architecture of Plantation Slavery. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, Walter, Thomas U. "Richard Upjohn, F. A. I. A." Journal of the American Institute of Architects Vol. 8: 6 (December Whiffen, Marcus, and Frederick Koeper.

American Architecture. Cambridge, Massachussetts: The MIT Press, Wilson, Eugene M. A Guide to Rural Houses of Alabama. Montgomery, Alabama: Alabama Historical Commission, . Alabama Folk Houses. Montgomery, Alabama: Alabama Historical Commission, Withey, Henry F., and Elsie Rathburn Withey. Biographical Dictionary of American Architects. Los Angeles: New Age Publishing, Woodman, Harold D. King Cotton and His Retainers: Financing and Marketing the Cotton Crop of the South. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, E. Likely Sources Not Yet Investigated: There is a possibility that the Avery Architectural Archives at Columbia University or the New York Public Library may have more information about Kenworthy Hall and Forest Hall and Upjohn's other buildings in the Alabama.

The Alabama Department of Archives and History ADDENDUM TO KENWORTHY HALL (Carlisle-Martin House) HABS NO. AL-765 (page 72) holds several volumes of Carlisle's business ledgers, which could help to form an idea of Carlisle's sphere of influence as a cotton factor and commission's merchant. Since the Edward King House still survives in Newport, Rhode Island and was one of the models for Kenworthy Hall, a more comprehensive study comparing the two houses could lead to some interesting revelations about building a similar structure in the North versus in the South. Likewise, the archives and other historical repositories in Mobile were not tapped into for this report and may hold significant information on Carlisle's decades of business there. PART IV.

PROJECT INFORMATION The documentation of Kenworthy Hall (Carlisle-Martin House) in the Marion vicinity, Alabama, was undertaken in the summer of cosponsored by the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) of the National Park Service, E. Blaine Cliver, Chief of HABS/HAER, The Alabama Historical Commission, Lawrence Oakes, SHPO; and the Martin Family. The HABS/HAER principals involved were Paul D. Dolinsky, Chief of HABS, Robert R. Arzola, HABS Architect, and Catherine C. Lavoie, HABS Historian; and at the Alabama Historical Commission, Kimberly Harden, Architect; and Robert Gamble, Historian. The field recording was conducted by project supervisor Professor John P. White (Texas Tech University); historian, Amanda J.

Holmes (University of Pennsylvania), and architecture technicians Heather Jecklin (Savannah College of Art and Design); Clifford J. Laube, HI (Roger Williams University); Walton D. Stowell, Jr. (Savannah College of Art and Design); and Viktoriya Sinkevych (ICOMOS , Ukraine). Large- format photography was undertaken by HABS Photographer, Jack E. Boucher. Special thanks to Mr. Heber and Nell Martin for their participation, encouragement and gracious hospitality.

Party. Figure Pages

Due to copyright restrictions, the figure pages have been pulled and placed in the field notes that accompany the formal HABS/HAER documentation of Kenworthy Hall. These figure pages are reference-only copies to be viewed in the Prints and Photographs reading room at the Library of Congress.